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HISTORICAL SERIES— BOOK 111 PART II 



STORIES 



OF OTHER LANDS 



COMPILED AND ARRANGED 

By JAMES JOHONNOT 




NEW YORK /^9/-5" 

D. APPLE TON AND COMPANY 

1888 



COPYEIGHT, 1888, 

Bt d. appleton and company. 



PREFACE. 



Pupils who have read the lower numbers of this se- 
ries are already acquainted with the methods pursued. A 
story interesting to children is given in the language of 
daily life, the lessons gradually rising into the more stately 
style of what is called literature. The language used is 
usually of such a character as to enable the pupil to con- 
tinually enlarge his vocabulary and correct the mistakes 
and provincialism of his own speech and writing by a 
study of the masterpieces of history and biography. 

In the lower books the stories were mostly of our own 
country, and the articles chosen were those which with no 
uncertain sound taught the elements of patriotism. In 
the " Stories of other Lands " it will be seen that all 
through the later history of Europe the battle for human 
freedom has gone on, each nation in turn seeming to be 
the custodian of the brightest interests of humanity. 

The story is the thought, with the proper explana- 
tion and presentations of each of the lessons. The pupils 
from the first can not help being interested in the work, 
and in consequence of this interest much of the difficulty 
usually experienced in learning to read is overcome. 

The preparation needed is the study of unfamiliar 



4 PREFACE. 

words and the use of these words in original sentences, 
both in speech and in writing ; then, when all obstacles 
in regard to the language have been removed, the read- 
ing goes on through the intellectual activity aroused by 
the interest of the stories themselves. 

Familiarity with w^ords comes from the use and repe- 
tition of them in sentences ; errors disappear before ex- 
perience, and a habit is acquired of looking through text 
to the thought which the text conveys. 

The fragments of history here given are designed to 
excite such an interest as to lead the pupil to more exten- 
sive reading, and especially of such as will open to his 
view the succession of the peoples who have ruled the 
world, and the philosophy which has obtained in the de- 
velopment of the human race. 



COISTTEIS^TS 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 



PAGE 



I. The Return of Columbus 7 

II. Ferdinand Magellan 15 

III. Hernando Cortes 20 

IV. Francisco Pizarro 28 

V. The Maid of Zaragoza 40 

STORIES OF FRANCE. 

VI. The Maid of Orleans 51 

VII. St. Vincent de Paul 60 

VIII. Waterloo \[ 69 

STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 

IX. A Legend of Bregenz 79 

X. The Troublesome Burghers 87 

XL Marlborough at Blenheim 95 

XII. A Winter Campaign 105 

STORIES OF BRITAIN. 

XIII. Charles and Oliver _ 113 

XIV. Sir John Moore ,...,, ,.,...., 124 



CONTENTS. 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 

XV. Michael Angelo Buonarotti 130 

XVI. Raffaelle 142 

STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 

XVII. Sir Isaac Newton 151 

XVIIl. William Oaxton 160 

XIX, George Stephenson 163 

XX. The Blackburn Farmer 176 

MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 

XXL Samuel Johnson's Repentance . . 184 

XXII. Flora Macdonald 191 

XXIII. Grace Darling 194 

XXIV. The Indian Mutiny 204 

XXV. The Rescue Party 220 



STOEIES OF SPAIK 



I. 

THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS. 

1. The letter of Columbus to tlie Spaiiisli 
monarclis, announcing his discovery, had produced 
the greatest sensation at court. The event it com- 
municated was considered the most extraordinary 
of their prosperous reign, and, following so close 
upon the conquest of Granada, was pronounced 
a signal mark of divine favor for that triumph 
achieved in the cause of the true faith. The sov- 
ereigns themselves were for a time dazzled and 
bewildered by this sudden and easy acquisition of 
a new empire of indefinite extent and apparently 
boundless wealth, and their first idea was to secure 
it beyond the reach of question or competition. 
Shortly after his arrival in Seville, Columbus re- 
ceived a letter from them expressing their great 
delight, and requesting him to repair immediately 
to court to concert plans for a second and more 
extensive expedition. 



STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 




2. As the summer was already advancing, the 
time favorable for a voyage, they desired him to 

make any arrangements at 
Seville or elsewhere that 
might hasten the expedi- 
tion, and to inform them 
by the return of the courier 
what w^as necessary to be 
done on their part. This 
letter was addressed to him 
^' by the title of " Don Chris- 

^^^ topher Columbus, our Ad- 

Christopher Columbus. • t /» ii /^ o i 

miral ot the Ocean feea, and 
Viceroy and Governor of the Islands discovered in 
the Indies " ; at the same time he was promised 
still further rewards. Columbus lost no time in 
complying with the commands of the sovereigns. 
He sent a memorandum of the ships, men, and 
munitions that would be requisite, and, having 
made such dispositions at Seville as circumstances 
permitted, set out on his journey for Barcelona, 
taking with him six Indians and the various curi- 
osities and productions he had brought from the 
New World. 

3. The fame of his discovery had resounded 
throughout the nation, and, as his route lay through 
several of the finest and most po])ulous provinces 
of Spain, his journey appeared like the progress of 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 9 

a sovereign. Wherever lie passed, the surround- 
ing country poured forth its inhabitants, who lined 
the road and thronged the villages. In the large 
towns, the streets, windows, and balconies were 
filled with eager spectators, who rent the air with 
acclamations. His Journey was continually im- 
peded by the multitude pressing to gain a sight 
of him and of the Indians, who were regarded 
with as much admiration as if they had been na- 
tives of another planet. It was impossible to sat- 
isfy the craving curiosity which assailed himself 
and his attendants at every stage with innumer- 
able questions. Popular rumor as usual had ex- 
aggerated the truth and had filled the newly-found 
country with all kinds of wonders. 

4. It was about the middle of April that Co- 
lumbus arrived at Barcelona, where every prepara- 
tion had been made to give him a solemn and 
magnificent reception. The beauty and serenity 
of the weather in that genial season and favored 
climate contributed to give splendor to this memo- 
rable ceremony. As he drew near the place, many 
of the more youthful courtiers and hidalgos of gal- 
lant bearing came forth to meet and welcome him. 
His entrance into this noble city has been com- 
pared to one of those triumphs which the Romans 
were accustomed to decree to conquerors. First, 
were paraded the Indians, painted according to 



STORIES OF SPAIK H 

their savage fashion, and decorated with tropical 
feathers and wdth their national ornaments of gold. 
After these were borne various kinds of live par- 
rots, together with stuffed birds and animals of 
unknown species, and rare plants supposed to be 
of precious qualities, while great care was taken to 
make a conspicuous display of Indian coronets^ 
bracelets, and other decorations of gold which 
might give an idea of the wealth of the newly 
discovered regions. After these followed Colum- 
bus on horseback, surrounded by a brilliant caval- 
cade of Spanish chivalry. 

5. The streets were almost impassable from 
the countless multitude ; the windows and balco- 
nies were crowded with the fair ; the very roofs 
were covered with spectators. It seemed as if the 
public eye could not be sated with gazing on these 
tro23hies of an unknown world or on the remark- 
able man by whom it had been discovered. There 
was a sublimity in this event that mingled a sol- 
emn feeling with the public joy. It was looked 
upon as a vast and signal dispensation of Provi- 
dence in reward for the piety of the monarchs ; 
and the majestic and venerable appearance of the 
discoverer, so different from the youth and buoy- 
ancy that are generally expected from roving en- 
terprise, seemed in harmony with the grandeur 
and dignity of his achievement. 



12 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

To receive Mm witli suitable pomp and dis- 
tinction, the sovereio^ns had ordered their throne 
to be placed in public, under a rich canopy of bro- 
cade of gold, in a vast and splendid saloon. Here 
the king and queen awaited his arrival, seated in 
state, with the Piince Juan beside them, and at- 
tended by the dignitaries of their court and the 
principal nobility of Castile, Valencia, Catalonia, 
and Arragon, all impatient to behold the man who 
had conferred so incalculable a benefit upon the 
nation. 

6. At length Columbus entered the hall sur- 
rounded by a brilliant crowd of cavaliers, among 
whom, says Las Casas, he w^as conspicuous for his 
stately and commanding person, which, with his 
countenance rendered venerable by his gray hairs, 
gave him the august appearance of a senator of 
Rome. A modest smile lighted up his features, 
showing that he enjoyed the state and glory in 
which he came ; and certainly nothing could be 
more deeply moving to a mind inflamed by noble 
ambition, and conscious of having greatly deserved, 
than these testimonials of the admiration and grati- 
tude of a nation or rather of a world. As Colum- 
bus approached, the sovereigns rose as if receiving 
a person of the highest rank. Bending his knees, 
he requested to kiss their hands ; but there was 
some hesitation on the part of their majesties to 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 



13 



permit this act of vassalage. Raising him in the 
most gracious manner, they ordered him to seat 




Reception of Columbus by Ferdinand and. Isabella. 

himself in their presence — a rare honor in this 
proud and punctilious court. 

7. At the request of their majesties, Columbus 
now gave an account of the most striking events 
of his voyage and a description of the islands 
which he had discovered. He displayed the speci- 



14 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

mens he had brought of unknown birds and other 
animals, of rare plants of medicinal and aromatic 
virtue ; of native gold in dust, in crude masses, or 
labored into barbaric ornaments; and, above all, 
the natives of these countries, who were objects of 
intense and inexhaustible interest, since there is 
nothing to man so curious as the varieties of his 
own species. All these he pronounced mere har- 
bingers of great discoveries he had yet to make, 
which would add realms of incalculable wealth to 
the dominions of their majesties, and whole nations 
of proselytes to the true faith. 

8. The words of Columbus were listened to 
with profound emotion by the sovereigns. When 
he had finished they sunk on their knees, and, 
raising their clasped hands to Heaven, their eyes 
filled with tears of joy and gratitude, they poured 
forth thanks and praises to God for so great a 
providence. All present followed their example. 
A deep and solemn enthusiasm pervaded that 
splendid assembly and prevented all common ac- 
clamations of triumph. The anthem of Te Deum 
Laudamus, chanted by the choir of the royal 
chapel, with the melodious accompaniments of the 
instruments, rose up from the midst in a full body 
of sacred harmony, bearing up, as it were, the feel- 
ings and thoughts of the auditors to Heaven ; " so 
that," says the venerable Las Casas, ^' it seemed as 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 15 

if iu that hour they communicated with celestial 
delights." Such was the solemn and pious man- 
ner in which the brilliant court of Spain cele- 
brated this sublime event, offering up a grateful 
tribute of melody and praise, and giving glory to 
God for the discovery of another world. 

Washington Irving. 



n. 
FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 

1. Commercial rivalry had thus passed from 
Venice and Genoa to Spain and Portugal. The 
circumnavigation of the earth originated in a dis- 
pute between these kingdoms respecting the 
Molucca Islands, from which nutmegs, cloves, and 
mace were obtained. Ferdinand Magellan had 
been in the service of the King of Portugal ; but 
an application he had made for an increase of half 
a ducat a month in his stipend having been re- 
fused, he passed into the service of the King of 
Spain, along with one Ray Falero, a friend of his, 
who, among the vulgar, bore the reputation of 
conjurer, or magician, but who really possessed 
considerable astronomical attainments, devoting: 



16 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

himself to tlie discovery of improved means for 
finding the place of a shijD at sea. 

2. Magellan persuaded the Spanish govern- 
ment that the Spice Islands could be reached by 
sailing to the west, the Portuguese having previ- 
ously reached them by sailing to the east, and if 
this were accomplished Spain would have as good 
a title to them, under the bull of Alexander VI, 
as Portugal. Five ships, carrying 237 men, were 
accordingly equipped, and on August 10, 1519, 
Magellan sailed for Seville. The Semite was the 
admiral's ship, but the San Viltoria was destined 
for immortality. He struck boldly for the south- 
west, not crossing the trough of the Atlantic as 
Columbus had done, but passing down the length 
of it, his aim being to find some cleft or passage 
in the American continent through which he 
might sail into the Great South Sea. 

3. For seventy days he was becalmed under 
the line. He then lost sight of the north star, 
but courageously held on toward the "pole 
antartike." He nearly foundered in a storm, 
"which did not abate till the three fires, called 
St. Helen, St. Nicholas, and St. Clare, appeared 
playing in the rigging of the ships." In a new 
land, to which he gave the name of Patagoni, 
he found giants "of good corporature," clad in 
skins. One of them, a very pleasant and tractable 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 17 

giant, were terrified at liis own visage in a look- 
ino^.o^lass. 

4. Among the sailors, alarmed at the distance 
they had come, mutiny broke out, requiring the 
most unflinching resolution in the commander for 
its suppression. In spite of his watchfulness, one 
ship deserted him and stole to Spain. His perse- 
verance and resolution were at last rewarded by 
the discovery of the strait named by him San Vil- 
toria, in affectionate honor of his ship, but which, 
with a worthy sentiment, other sailors soon 
changed to the '' Strait of Magellan." 

5. On November 28, 1520, after a year and a 
quarter of struggling, he issued forth from its 
western portals and entered the Great South Sea, 
shedding tears of joy, as Pigafelts, an eye-witness, 
relates, when he recognized its infinite expanse — 
tears of stern joy that it had pleased God to bring 
him at length where he might grapple with its 
unknown dangers. Admiring its illimitable but 
placid surface, and exulting in the meditation of 
its secret perils soon to be tried, he courteously 
imposed on it the name it is forever to bear, " the 
Pacific Ocean." While buffing for an entry to it, 
he observed with surprise that in the month of 
October the nights are only four hours long, and 
^' considered, in this his navigation, that the pole 
antartike hath no notable star like the pole artike. 



18 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

but that tlie pole antartike hatli no notable star 
like tlie pole arsike, but that there be two clouds 
of little stars, somewhat dark in the midst, also a 
cross of fine, clear stars, but that here the needle 
becomes so sluggish that it needs must be moved 
with a bit of load-stone before it will rightly 
point." 

6. And now the great sailor, having burst 
throuo^h the barrier of the American continent, 
steered for the northwest, attempting to regain 
the equator. For three months and twenty days 
he sailed on the Pacific, and never saw inhabited 
land. He was compelled by famine to strip oif 
the pieces of skin and leather wherewith his rig- 
ging was here and there bound, to soak them in 
the sea, and then soften them with warm water, 
so as to make a wretched food ; to eat the sweep- 
ings of the ship and other loathsome matter ; to 
drink water grown putrid by keeping ; and yet he 
resolutely held on his course, though his men were 
dying daily. As is quaintly observed, their gums 
grew over their teeth, and so they could not eat. 
He estimated that he sailed over this unfathom- 
able sea not less than twelve thousand miles. 

7. This unparalleled resolution met its reward 
at last. Magellan reached a group of islands 
north of the equator — the Ladrones. In a few 
days more he became aware that his labors had 



STORIES OF 8PA1K 19 

been successful ; lie met with adventurers from 
Sumatra. But, thougli lie liad tlius grandly ac- 
complished his object, it was not given to him to 
complete the circumnavigation of the globe. At 
an island called Leba, or Mutan, he was killed, 
either, as has been variously related, in a mutiny 
of his men, or, as they declared, in a conflict with 
the savages, or insidiously by poison. "The 
general," they said, " was a very brave man, and 
received his death- wound in his front, nor would 
the savages yield up his body for any ransom." 
Through treason and revenge, it is not unlikely 
that he fell, for he was a stern man ; none but a 
very stern man could have accomplished so daring 
a deed. Hardly was he gone when his crew 
learned that they were actually in the vicinity of 
the Moluccas, and that the object of their voyage 
was fulfilled. On the morning of November 8, 
1521, having been at sea two years and three 
months, as the sun was rising, they entered Lidore, 
the chief port of the Spice Islands. The King of 
Lid ore swore upon the Koran alliance to the King 
of Spain. 

8. I need not allude to the wonderful objects, 
destined soon to become common to voyagers in 
the Indian Archipelago, that greeted their eyes ; 
elephants in trappings ; vases and vessels of porce- 
lain ; birds of Paradise, " that fly not, but be 



20 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

blown by the wind " ; exhaustless stores of the 
coveted spices, nutmegs, mace, cloves. And now 
they prepared to bring the news of their success 
back to Spain. Magellan's lieutenant, Sebastian 
de Elcano, directed his course for the Cape of 
Good Hope, again encountering the most fearful 
hardships. Out of his slender crew he lost twen- 
ty-one men. He doubled the cape at last, and on 
September 7, 1522, in the port of St. Lucar, near 
Seville, under his orders, the good ship San Vil- 
toria came safely to an anchor. She had accom- 
plished the greatest achievement in the history of 
the human racec She had circumnavio^ated the 
earth. 

Draper. 



IIL 
HERNANDO CORTES. 

1. Columbus, and many others of the early 
discoverers, brought back to Spain accounts of 
countries far in the interior of America that were 
inhabited by a race very different from tlie In- 
dians, a race that had large and populous cities, 
fine farms, an extensive trade, various manufactures, 
and who lived in much the same manner as did 
the people of Europe. These countries were also 




STORIES OF SPAIN. 21 

represented as rich in silver and gold, specimens 

of wliich were found among the people of the 

coast. As it was known that 

the natives of the country 

knew nothing about guns and /; 

powder, but used bows and 

spears, the weapons of the 

old time, instead, it was 

thought to be a safe plan to ^y^^:^:\ A\ 

undertake to conquer the V^ / 

countries and so obtain the 

• 1 1 • 1 xi J Hernando Cortes. 

riches which they possessed. 

2. Among those who were most interested in 
these projects was Hernando Cortes, a Spanish 
gentleman residing upon one of the islands. He 
had heard of the riches of these countries, had 
seen the gold which came from them, and he 
planned to go out on a voyage of discovery, and 
to see for himself the strange things reported to 
him. In this undertaking his motives seem to be 
about equally divided between the greed for gold, 
the love of adventure, and the desire to convert 
the natives to his own religion. 

3. So Cortes raised a force of three hundred 
men, mostly old soldiers, used to fighting and 
plunder, and set sail for the coast of Central Amer- 
ica in 1519, eighteen years after the discovery of 
Columbus. After numerous adventures, and 



22 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

fighting several severe battles w^itli the natives 
at different places along the coast, Cortes landed 
at the port, now Vera Cruz, on the 21st of April. 
Here he founded a colony, then, burning his ships 
so there could be no retreat, he started for the in- 
terior. In every step of his ^^rogress he saw evi- 
dences of an advanced but crude civilization. The 
rich soil brought forth abundant crops, and the 
population was more dense than in any part of 
Europe. They literally swarmed on all sides, and 
the little band of Cortes made their way through 
crowds of wonderinsr natives. 

4. The one thing about the Spaniards that 
most aft'ected the Mexicans was the horsemen. 
They regarded the horse and his rider as a mon- 
ster that could vomit forth fire, and fled at his ap- 
proach. Messengers from Montezuma, the king, 
forbid Cortes from advancing into the country, 
but to this the Spaniards j)^i^l ^o heed. Then 
war began in earnest. The invading army was 
attacked by the natives numbering thousands, and 
for many days, through nearly all hours between 
sunrise and sunset, it was a scene of continued 
slauo-hter. The lis^ht arrows of the Mexicans 
could make no impression upon the armor of the 
Spaniards, while every discharge of artillery lit- 
erally cut them down by the hundreds. 

5. At length, tired of this bloodshed, a tribe, 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 



23 



lately conquered by tlie Mexicans, made peace 
witli Cortes, and sent an army of several thousand 
to help him against Montezumao Upon the 7th 




The meeting of Cortes and Montezuma. 

of November the Spaniards arrived at Mexico and 
were welcomed by Montezuma, who gave them 
quarters in a public square in one of the richest 
parts of the city. He also sent his unwelcome 
visitors all the provisions they needed. This state 
of affairs continued for ten days, friendly meetings 
taking place daily between Cortes and the king. 
At last the treacherous Spaniard seized Montezu- 



24 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

ma when he made a friendly call, loaded him with 
irons, and held him as a prisoner. 

6. At first the Mexicans seemed stunned at the 
terrible blow, but, as Cortes made no further ad- 
vances, peace continued for several months. Then 
Cortez heard that a Spanish force of more than 
a thousand men, under the command of one of his 
personal enemies, had been sent out to arrest him, 
and had arrived and taken possession of his colony 
at Vera Cruz. Prompt in his actions, he left 
enough of his force to guard his quarters in the 
city, and with the remainder he marched rapidly 
back to the coast. Here he surprised his enemies, 
and captured the entire army sent out to arrest 
him. After his victory, he induced the whole 
number to join his army, and so strengthened he 
marched back to the capital. 

7. His arrival was none too soon. The Mexi- 
cans were under arms. The draw-bridges across 
the marshes that surrounded the city were broken 
down. On the day after Cortes's return, June 24, 
1520, the attack began. For seven days untold 
thousands of the Mexicans advanced upon the 
Spanish quarters, fearlessly exposing their naked 
bodies to the cannon and musketry of their ene- 
mies. As thousands were killed, other thousands 
took their place. In the assault Montezuma was 
killed by an arrow from his own people. So de- 



STORIES OF SPA IK 25 

termined and continuous was the attack that even 
Spanish endurance gave way, and at last Cortes 
determiued to retreat. Toward midnight on the 
first of July he stole out of the city, but in the 
causeways the enemy suddenly appeared, and 
during the long hours of the night the conflict 
continued. Hardly in the history of the world 
has there been a scene so bloody as that upon the 
Mexican causeways and lakes upon that memorable 
night. The rear guard of the Spanish force were 
enabled to pass over the chasms in the causeways 
upon a bridge made up of the dead bodies of 
Mexicans and Spaniards. 

8. In the morning Cortes, with a loss of three 
fourths of his army, continued his retreat. He 
reached the countiy of his native allies, where 
he was kindly received and protected. While 
lying here, he was informed of the arrival of a 
Spanish ship at the port of his colony on the coast. 
This he seized and induced the crew to join him. 
In the course of a few months he succeeded in 
capturing three more vessels in the same way, and 
thus re-enforced he fearlessly advanced again to 
the attack upon the capital. 

9. At length all was ready, and on the 28th of 
December, 1520, with six hundred Spaniards and 
sixteen thousand native troops, he set out on his 
enterprise. For four months he and his lieuten- 



26 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

ants were engaged in subduing the provinces and 
cities lying about the capital, and on the 10th of 
May, 1521, he laid siege to the capital. During 
all this period there had been a nearly incessant 
battle, and the people were daily slaughtered by 
hundreds. When all the causeways were taken, 
Cortes could not restrain the impatience of his 
troops, and he ordered a general assault upon the 
city. Some division of his army succeeded in 
fighting their way into the streets, but so bravely 
were they met that at last they were obliged to 
retreat with a loss of more than one hundred Span- 
ish soldiers, sixty of whom were taken prisoners. 
These prisoners were, one by one, sacrificed to the 
gods in sight of their countrymen. 

10. After a rest of eight days, active opera- 
tions again commenced, and the Spaniards slowly 
gained ground on every side. On August 14th the 
final assault began, which lasted two days. The 
Mexicans were driven from street to street, and 
toward evening of the second day the few sur- 
vivors, weakened by famine, endeavored to escape 
by their canoes across the lake. They were pur- 
sued and captured, and one of the prisoners was 
found to be the King Guatimozin, the successor 
of Montezuma. The Spaniards took possession of 
a ruined city. The population had been reduced 
to about forty thousand, and in a few days these 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 27 

gradually disappeared until there was not left one 
native in the city. 

11. Cortes was successful in accompl.isMng Ms 
objects. With a mere handful of Spaniards he 
had conquered a country more populous than all 
Spain. With a force that never exceeded one 
thousand trained men, he had destroyed the lives 
of more than one million of human beings. To 
gratify his greed and his bigotry, the monuments, 
the cities, and the homes of a great empire were 
broken up. That he might achieve a name, a race 
was devoted to destruction. The Mexican people 
have passed out of existence, or only live as sav- 
ages in the fastnesses of the mountains. The fame 
Cortes coveted he achieved ; but it is the fame of 
the wolf that invades the shepherd's fold, of the 
tiger that gluts himself upon the blood of helpless 
women and children. History is pitiless, and 
Cortes lives as one of the most inhuman monsters 
that ever cumbered the earth. 

12. The conquest of Cortes also proved a curse 
to all who were in any way engaged in it. The 
great empire of Charles Y dissolved, and Spain, 
having dissipated the proceeds of her robberies, 
was stricken with delirium and paralysis. Her 
commerce was broken up, her industries decayed, 
and she so sunk in physical and spiritual prostra- 
tion as to become a by-word among nations. The 



28 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

Spanish people who have settled upon Mexican 
soil have shared a similar fate. The blood of the 
slaughtered Aztecs has never ceased to cry from 
the ground. The homes built over their graves 
seem haunted still. The government, based upon 
the wholesale murders of Cortes, has reeled as 
with tremens for three hundred and fifty years. 
Nor is the expiation yet ended. The winds from 
the south come to our ears constantly laden with 
the notes of intrigue, rebellion, and robbery in that 
unhappy country, and it is left for the future his- 
torian to record what justice at last exacts for the 
crimes of Cortes. 



IV. 

FRANCISCO PIZARRO. 

1. Stimulated by the success of Pizarro in his 
murderous career in Mexico, a multitude of ad- 
venturers from Spain flocked to the New World, 
each urged on by the most insatiable greed, and 
each governed by a code of morals that exalted 
the Inquisition and the auto de fe. Among those 
who was ready to engage in any scheme of false- 
hood, treachery, or murder to secure riches, was 
Francisco Pizarro. He was born a peasant, and 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 



'29 



passed the first years of his life as a swineherd. 
Joining some of the expeditions which followed 
the wake of Columbus, he made his way to the 
New World. After some years of adventure, he 
came in possession of knowledge of the wonderful 
country of the In cas, lying upon the great Peru- 
vian plateau, and shut out from the world by the 
snow-clad ridges and summits of the Andes. 

2. Gatherinof a force of about two hundred 



iv^ll^. ''^^'f 




Pizarro and his Men. 



men, mail-clad and mounted on powerful horses, 
Pizarro set out to invade a distant region with a 



30 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

population of millions. After innumerable hard- 
ships his little band emerged from the mountain- 
passes and made their way to Cuzco, the capital of 
the Incas. The Spaniards were received by the 
natives as friends, and quarters were assigned 
them in large buildings facing the principal square 
of the city. Food was furnished them in plenty, 
and they were regarded by the simple natives as 
supreme beings. Hui, the Inca, and his attendants 
came to pay the strangers a friendly visit. The 
person of the Inca, Pizarro determined to secure. 
Let Prescott tell the remainder of the terrible 
story : 

3. " The clouds of the evening had passed 
away and the sun rose bright on the following 
morning, the most remarkable epoch in the annals 
of Peru. It was Saturday, the 16th of November, 
1532. The loud cry of the trumpet called the 
Spaniards to arms with the first streak of dawn ; 
and Pizarro, briefly acquainting them with the 
plan of the assault, made the necessary disposi- 
tions. 

4. " The plaza was defended on its three sides 
by low ranges of buildings, consisting of spacious 
halls with wide doors or vomitories opening into 
the square. In these halls he stationed his cav- 
alry in two divisions, one under his brother Her- 
nando, the other under De Soto. The infantry 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 31 

he plac^ed in anotlier of the buildings, reserving 
twenty chosen men to act with himself as occasion 
might re(]mre. Pedro de Candia, with a few sol- 
diers and the artillery, comprehending under this 
imposing name tw^o small pieces of ordnance called 
falconets, he established in the fortress. 

5. '' All received orders to wait at their posts 
till the arrival of the Inca. After his entrance 
into the great square they were still to remain un- 
der cover, withdiawn from observation, till the 
signal was given by the discharge of a gun, when 
they were to cry their war-cries, to rush out in a 
body from their covert, and, putting the Peruvians 
to the sword, bear off the person of the Inca. Pi- 
zarro particularly inculcated order and implicit 
obedience, that in the hurry of the moment there 
should be no confusion. Everything depended on 
their acting with concert, coolness, and celerity. 

6. " The chief next saw that their arms were 
in good order, and that the breast-plates of their 
horses were garnished with bells to add by their 
noise to the consternation of the Indians. Re- 
freshments were also liberally provided that the 
troops should be in condition for the conflict. 
These arrangements being completed, mass was 
performed with great solemnity by the ecclesias. 
tics who attended the expedition. The God of 
battles was invoked to spread his shield over the 



32 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

soldiers who were fighting to extend the empire of 
the cross, and all joined with enthusiasm in the 
chant, ' Rise, O Lord ! and judge thine own cause.' 
One might have supposed them a company of 
martyrs about to lay down their lives in defense 
of their faith instead of a licentious band of ad- 
venturers meditatino; one of the most atrocious 
acts of perfidy on the record of history. 

7. " It was noon before the Indian procession 
was on its mai^ch, when it was seen occupying the 
great causeway for a long extent. In front came 
a large body of attendants, whose ofiice seemed to 
be to sweep away every particle of rubbish from 
the road. High above the crowd appeared the 
Inca, borne on the shoulders of his principal no- 
bles, while others of the same rank marched by 
the sides of his litter, displaying such a dazzling 
show of ornaments on their ^^ersons that, in the 
language of one of the conquerors, ' they blazed 
like the sun.' But the greater part of the Inca's 
forces mustered along the fields that lined the 
road, and were spread over the broad meadows as 
far as the eye could reach. 

8. " It was not long before sunset when the 
van of the royal jDrocession entered the gates of 
the city. First came some hundreds of the meni- 
als, employed to clear the path from every obsta- 
cle, and singing songs of triumph as they came. 



STORIES OF SPAIK 33 

^ which in our ears,' says one of the conquerors, 
' sounded like the song-s of hell ! ' Then followed 
other bodies of different ranks and dressed in dif- 
ferent liveries. Some wore a showy stuff, check- 
ered w^hite and red like the squares of a chess- 
board. Others were clad in pure white, bearing 
hammers or maces of silver or copper ; and the 
guards, together with those in immediate attend- 
ance on the prince, were distinguished by a rich 
azure livery and a profusion of gay ornaments, 
while the large pendants attached to the ears indi- 
cated the Peruvian noble. 

9. " Elevated high above his vassals came the 
Inca Atahuallpa, borne on a sedan or open litter, 
on which was a sort of throne made of massive 
gold of inestimable value. The palanquin was 
lined with the richly -colored j^lumes of tropical 
birds and studded with shining plates of gold and 
silver. The monarch's attire was much richer than 
on the preceding evening. Kound his neck was 
suspended a collar of emeralds of uncommon size 
and brilliancy. His short hair was decorated ^?vdth 
golden ornaments, and the imperial horla encircled 
his temples. The bearing of the Inca was sedate 
and dignified, and from his lofty station he looked 
down on the multitudes below with an air of com- 
posure like one accustomed to command. 

lOo ^^ As the leading lines of the procession en- 



34: STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

tered the great square, larger, says an old chroni- 
cler, than any square in Spain, they opened to the 
right and left for the royal retinue to jjass. Every- 
thing was conducted with admirable order. The 
monarch was permitted to traverse the plaza in si- 
lence, and not a Spaniard was to be seen. When 
some five or six thousand of his people had. en- 
tered the place, Atahuallpa halted, and, turning 
round with an inquiring look, demanded, ' Where 
are the strangers ? ' 

11. ^' At this moment Fray Vicente de Val- 
verde, a Dominican friar, Pizarro's chaplain, and 
afterw^ard Bishop of Cuzco, came forward with his 
breviary, or, as other accounts say, a Bible, in one 
hand and a crucifix in the other, and, approaching 
the Inca, told him that he came by order of his 
commander to expound to him the doctrines of 
the true faith, for which purpose the Spaniards 
had come from a great distance to his country. 
The friar then explained, as clearly as he could, 
the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity, and, ascend- 
ing high in his account, began with the creation of 
man, thence passed to his fall, to his subsequent 
redemption by Jesus Christ, to the crucifixion and 
the ascension, when the Saviour left the Apostle 
Peter as his vicegerent upon earth. 

12. ^^ This power had been transmitted to the 
successors of the apostle, good and wise men, who. 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 35 

uuder the title of popes, held authority over all 
powers and potentates on earth. One of the last 
of these popes had commissioned the Spanish em- 
peror, the most mighty monarch in the world, to 
conquer and convert the natives in this western 
hemisphere; and his general, Francisco Pizarro, 
had now come to execute this important mission. 
The friar concluded with beseeching the Peruvian 
monarch to receive him kindly, to abjure the errors 
of his own faith and embrace that of the Christians 
now proifered to him, the only one by which he 
could hope for salvation ; and, furthermore, to ac- 
knowledge himself a tributary of the Emperor 
Charles the Fifth, who, in that event, wT)uld aid 
and protect him as his loyal vassal. 

13. "The eyes of the Indian monarch flashed 
fire and his dark brow grew darker as he replied : 
' I will be no man's tributary ! I am greater than 
any prince upon earth. Your emperor may be a 
great prince ; I do not doubt it when I see that 
he has sent his subjects so far across the waters, 
and I am willing to hold him as a brother. As 
for the Pope of whom you speak, he must be crazy 
to talk of giving away countries which do not be- 
long to him. For my faith,' he continued, ' I will 
not change it. Your own God, as you say, was 
put to death by the very men whom he created ; 
but mine,' he concluded, pointing to his deity — 



36 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

then, alas ! sinking in glory behind the mountains 
— ' my God still lives in the heavens and looks 
down on his children.' 

14. ^' He then demanded of Valverde by what 
authority he had said these things. The friar 
pointed to the book which he held as his authori- 
ty. Atahuallpa, taking it, turned over the pages 
a moment ; then, as the insult he had received 
probably flashed across his mind, he threw it down 
with vehemence and exclaimed : ' Tell your com- 
rades that they shall give me an account of their 
doings in my land. I wdll not go from here till 
they have made me full satisfaction for all the 
wrongs they have committed.' 

15. "The friar, greatly scandalized by the in- 
dignity offered to the sacred volume, stayed only 
to pick it up, and, hastening to Pizarro, informed 
him of w^hat had been done, exclaiming at the 
same time : ' Do you not see that, while w^e stand 
here wasting our breath in talking with this dog, 
full of pride as he is, the fields are iilling with In- 
dians ? Set on at once ! I absolve you.' Pizarro 
saw that the hour had come. He waved a white 
scarf in the air, the appointed signal. The fatal 
gun was flred from the fortress. Then, springing 
into the square, the Spanish captain and his fol- 
lowers shouted the old war-cry of ^ St. Jago and at 
them ! ' It w^as answered by the battle-cry of 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 37 

every Spaniard in the city as, rusliing from the 
avenues of the great halls in which they were con- 
cealed, they poured into the plaza., horse and foot, 
each in his own dark column, and threw them- 
selves into the midst of the Indian crowd. 

16. " The latter, taken by surprise, stunned by 
the report of artillery and muskets, the echoes of 
which reverberated like thunder from the sur- 
rounding buildings, and blinded by the smoke 
which rolled in sulphurous volumes along the 
square, were seized with a panic. They knew not 
whither to fly for refuge from the coming ruin. 
Nobles and commoners, all were trampled do^vn 
under the fierce charge of the cavaLy, who dealt 
their blows right and left without sparing, while 
their swords, flashing through the thick gloom, 
carried dismay into the hearts of the wretched na- 
tives, who now for the first time saw the horse 
and his rider in all their terrors. They made no 
resistance, as, indeed, they had no weapons with 
which to make it. Every avenue to escape was 
closed, for the entrance to the square was choked 
up with the dead bodies of men who had perished 
in vain efforts to fly ; and such was the agony of 
the survivors under the terrible pressure of their 
assailants, that a large body of Indians by their 
convulsive struo-s^les burst through the wall of 
stone and dried clay which formed part of the 



38 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

boundary of the plaza ! It fell, leaving an open- 
ing of more tlian a hundred paces, through which 
multitudes now found their way into the country, 
still hotly pursued by the cavalry, who, leaping 
the fallen rubbish, hung on the rear of the fugi- 
tives, strikino^ them down in all directions. 

17. '■ Meanwhile the fight, or rather massacre, 
continued hot around the Inca, whose person ^\ as 
the great object of the assault. His faithful no- 
bles, rallying about him, threw themselves in the 
way of the assailants, and strove, by tearing them 
from their saddles, or at least by offering their 
own bosoms as a mark for their venireance, to 
shield their beloved master. It is said by some 
authorities that they carried weapons concealed 
under their clothes. If so it availed them little, 
as it is not pretended that they used them. But 
the most timid animal will defend itself w^hen 
at bay. That they did not do so in the present 
instance is proof that they had no weapons to 
use. Yet they still continued to force back the 
cavaliers, clinging to their horses with dying grasp, 
and, as one was cut down, another taking the 
place of his fallen comrade with a loyalty truly 
affecting. 

18. " The Indian monarch, stunned and bewil- 
dered, saw his faithful subjects falling round him 
without hardly comprehending his situation. The 



STORIES OF SPAIX. 39 

litter on which he rode heaved to and fro as the 
mighty press swayed backward and forward, and 
he gazed on the overwhehning ruin like some for- 
lorn mariner, who, tossed about in his bark by the 
furious elements, sees the lightning's flash and 
hears the thunder bursting around him with the 
consciousness that he can do nothing to avert his 
fate. At length, weary with the work of de- 
struction, the Spaniards, as the shades of evening 
grew deeper, felt afraid that the royal prize might, 
after all, elude them, and some of the cavaliers 
made a desperate effort to end the affray at once 
by taking Atahuallpa's life. But Pizarro, who 
was nearest his person, called out with stentorian 
voice, ^ Let no one who values his life strike at the 
Inca,' and, stretching out his arm to shield him, 
received a Avound on the hand from one of his 
own men — the only wound received by a Spaniard 
in the action. 

19. " The strusrsfle now became fiercer than 
ever round the royal litter. It reeled more and 
more, and at length, several of the nobles who 
supported it having been slain, it w^as overturned, 
and the Indian prince would have come with vio- 
lence to the ground had not his fall been broken 
by the efforts of Pizarro and some other of the 
cavaliers, who caught him in their arms. The im- 
perial horla was instantly snatched from his tern- 



40 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

pies by a soldier named Estete, and the unhappy 
monarch, strongly secured, was removed to a 
neighboring building, where he was carefully 
guarded. 

20. "All attempt at resistance now ceased. 
The fate of the Inca soon spread over town and 
country. The charm which might have held the 
Peruvians together was dissolved. Every man 
thought only of his ow^i safety. Even the sol- 
diery encamped on the adjacent fields took alarm, 
and, learning the fatal tidings, were seen flying in 
every direction before their pursuers, who in the 
heat of triumph showed no touch of mercy. At 
length night, more pitiful than man, threw her 
friendly mantle over the fugitives, and the scat- 
tered troops of Pizarro rallied once more at the 
sound of the trumpet in the bloody square of 
Caxamalca." 

W. H. Prescott. 



V. 

THE MAID OF ZARAGOZA. 



1. One of the worst acts of Napoleon's grasp- 
ing policy was the manner in which he entrapped 
the poor, foolish, weak Spanish royal family into his 
power, and then kept them in captivity and gave 



STORIES OF SPAIN, 41 

their kingdom to his brother Joseph. The whole 
Spanish people were roused to resistance by this 
transfer, and the whole of the peasantry lose as 
one man to repel this shameful aggression. A long 
course of bad ofovernment had done much to de- 
stroy the vigor of the nation, and as soldiers in 
the open field they were utterly worthless; but 
still there were high qualities of patience and per- 
severance among them, and these were never more 
fully shown than in the defense of Zaragoza, the 
ancient capital of the kingdom of Aragon, ' 

2. This city stands in an open plain, covered 
with olive grounds and closed by high mountains. 
About a mile to the southwest of the city was 
some high ground called the Torrero, upon which 
stood a convent, and close beside the city flowed 
the Ebro, crossed by two bridges, one of which 
was made of wood and said to be the most beauti- 
ful specimen of the kind of fabric in Europe. The 
water is of a dirty red, but grows clear when it 
has stood long enough, and is then excellent to 
drink. 

3. There were no regular fortifications, only an 
old brick wall ten or twelve feet high and three 
feet thick and often encroached upon by houses. 
Part of it, however, was of old Roman workman- 
ship, having been built under Augustus, by whom 
the town was called Csesarea Aug;usta, a name 



42 STORIES OF OTHER LAXBS 

since corrupted into Zaragoza. Four of the twelve 
gates were in this old wall, which was so well built 
as to put to shame all modern buildings, 

4. The houses were generally three stories 
high, the streets very narrow and crooked, except 
one long and wide one called the Calle Santa. 
Zaragoza was highly esteemed as the hrst seat of 
Christianity in Spain ; indeed, legend declared 
that St. James the Great had preached there and 
had a vision of the blessed Vii^gin, standing upon 
a marble pillar, and bidding him there build a 
church in honor of her. The pillar was the great 
object of veneration in Aragon ; and there was a- 
double cathedral, with service performed alter- 
nately in the two parts. So much venerated was 
our Lady of the Pillar, that Pilar became a com- 
mon name for a girl in the surrounding country. 

5. As is well said by Southey, in the fiery trial 
of the Zaragozans, ''the dross and tinsel of their 
faith disappeared and its pure gold remained." 
The inhabitants appeared, like most Spaniards 
since the blight of Philip II.'s policy had fallen on 
them, dull, apathetic beings, too proud and indo- 
lent for exertion, the men smoking cigaritos at 
their doors, the women only coming out with 
black silk mantillas over their heads to go to 
church. The French, on first seizing it with the 
rest of Spain, thought it the dullest place they 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 43 

had ever yet entered, and greatly despised the in- 
habitants. 

6. General Lefebvre was sent to quiet tlie in- 
surrection ao;ainst the French in Arag^on, and on 
the 18th and 14th of June, 1808, he easily routed 
the bodies of Spaniards who tried to oppose him. 
The %ing Spanish troops were pursued into Zara- 
goza by the French cavalry ; but here the inhabi- 
tants were able from their houses to drive back 
the enemy. Don Jose Palafox, a Spanish noble- 
man, took the command of the garrison, who were 
only two hundred and twenty soldiers, and en- 
deavored to arm the inhabitants, about sixty thou- 
sand in number, and all full of the most deter- 
mined spirit of resistance to the invaders. He 
had only sixteen cannon and a few muskets ; but 
fowling-pieces were collected and pikes were forged 
by all the smiths in the town. 

7. The siege began on the 27th of June. The 
French army was in considerable force and had a 
great supply of mortars and battering cannon, 
such as could by their shells and shot rend the 
poor back city from end to end. The Torrero 
quickly fell into their hands, and from that height 
there was a constant discharge of those terrible 
shells and grenades that burst in pieces as they 
fall and carry destruction everywhere. 

8. Not one building in the city could with- 



44: STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

stand them, and tbey were iired not at the walls, 
but into tlie town. All that could be done was to 
place beams slanting against the houses so that 
there might be a shelter under them from the 
shells. The awnings that sheltered the wdndows 
from the summer sun were taken down, sewn up 
into sacks, and filled with earth, then piled up be- 
fore the gates with a deep trench dug before them. 
The houses on the walls were pulled down, and 
every effort w^as made to strengthen the defenses, 
the whole of the lately quiet, lazy population toil- 
ing earnestly together in the midst of the deadly 
shower that ^vas always falling from the Torrero 
and striking down numbers as they w^orked. 

9. The same spirit animated every one. The 
Countess Bonita, a beautiful young lady, formed 
the women into an organized company for carrying 
food, water, and wine to the soldiers on guard 
and for relieving the wounded. Her courage and 
perseverance never failed. She was continuously 
seen in the places most exposed to the enemy's 
fire, bringing help and refreshment wherever she 
appeared among the hard-pressed warriors. The 
nuns became nurses of the sick and wounded and 
made cartridges, which w^ere carried to the defend- 
ers by the children of the place. The monks at- 
tended the sick and the dying or else bore arms, 
feeling that this — the cause of their country, tlieir 



STORIES OF SPAIN. 45 

king, and their faitli — had become to them a holy 
war. 

10. Thus men, women, and children alike 
seemed full of the same loyal spirit; but some 
traitor must have been among them, for on the 
night of the 28th the powder-magazine in the cen- 
ter of the town was blown up, destroying fourteen 
houses and killing two hundred people. At the 
same time the French appeared before three of 
the gates and a dreadful fire was opened from the 
Torrero, shells bursting everywhere among the 
citizens, who were striving in the dark to dig their 
friends out of the ruined houses. 

11. The worst attack was at the Portillo gate, 
and it lasted the whole day. The sand-bag de- 
fense was frequently destroyed, and under the 
dreadful shot was as often renewed by the un« 
daunted Spaniards. So dreadful was the carnage 
that at one moment every man among the defend- 
ers lay dead. At that moment one of the women 
who were carrying refreshments came up. Her 
name was Angus tina Zaragoza. She was a fine- 
looking woman of two-and-twenty, and was full of 
determined spirit. She saw the citizens hesitate 
to step forward to man the defenses when certain 
death awaited them, and, springing forward, she 
caught the match from the hand of a dead gunner, 
fired his twenty-six pounder, and, seating herself 



46 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

upon it, declared tliat it was her charge for the 
rest of the siege ; and she kept her word. She 
was the heroine of the sieo^e where all were hero- 
ines. 

12. She is generally called the Maid of Zara- 
goza, but she seems to have been the widow of one 
of the artillerymen who was here killed, and that 
she continued to serve the gun not solely as a 
patriot, but because she thus obtained a right to 
provisions for her little children, who otherwise 
might have starved in the famine that began to 
prevail. If this lessens the romance, it seems to us 
to add to the beauty and womanliness of Augusti- 
na's character, that for the sake of her children 
she should have run into the hottest of the peril 
and taken up the work in which her husband had 
died. 

13. Her readiness saved the Portillo for that 
time ; but the attacks were renew ed again and 
again with equal fury and fearful bloodshed. The 
French general had fancied that he could easily 
take such an unfortified place, and, finding it so 
difficult, he had lost his temper, and was thus 
throwing away his men's lives ; but after several 
such failures he began to invest the city regularly. 
Gunpowder was failing the besieged until they 
supplied its place by wonderful ingenuity. All 
the sulphur of the place was collected, nitre w\ns 



48 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

obtained by washing it out of the soil of the 
streets, and charcoal was jirepared by charring the 
stalks of a very large variety of the hemp which 
growls in that part of Spain. At the end of forty- 
six days the city was entirely surrounded, provis- 
ions were nearly exhausted, and there was not a 
single place safe from shot and shell. 

14. On the 2d of August a hospital caught fire, 
and the courage of the women was again shown 
by their exertions in carrying out the sick and 
wounded from the flames in spite of the continued 
shot from the enemy's batteries. On the 4th of 
August the French opened a battery within pistol 
shot of one of the gates. The mud Avails were 
leveled at the first discharge, and after a deadly 
struggle the besiegers forced their way into the 
convent, and before the end of the day they had 
gained all of that side of the city up to the main 
street. General Lefebvre thought that resistance 
was now over, and summoned Palafox to surren- 
der in a note containing only these words : " Head- 
quarters, St. Engracia. Capitulation." The an- 
swer was equally brief : " Headquarters, Zaragoza. 
War to the knife." 

15. There they were, a narrow street only be- 
tween the besieged and the besiegers ! Soon the 
space was heaped with dead bodies. The French 
let them lie and fired on the Spaniards whenever 



STORIES OF SFAIiV. 49 

they ventured out to bury tlieiu. Upon tliis Pala- 
fox tied ropes to his French prisoners and sent 
them out to bring in the dead for burial. The 
manufacture of powder could no longer be car- 
ried on ; but happily Don Francisco, brother of 
Palafox, was able to make his way into the city 
with a convoy of arms and ammunition. 

16. Padre Santiago Sass, the curate of one of 
the parishes of Zaragoza, show^ed himself one of 
the bravest of all the brave, fighting at every haz- 
ardous point, and then moving about among the 
sick and the dying to administer the last rites of 
the Church. No one's heart failed in that eleven 
days of continuous battle from house to house, 
from room to room, where the nights were times 
of more dreadful conflict than the days. Often, 
under cover of the darkness, a party would rush 
across the street to seize a battery, and once a 
Spaniard made his way across and fastened a rope 
to one of the French guns. It was dragged almost 
across the street, but the rope broke and it was 
lost. ' 

17. On the 8th of August the Spaniards saw 
that soon their last defense in the city would be 
destroyed, and they resolved to cross the Ebro, 
blow up the bridge, and defend the suburbs as 
they had defended the streets. Only an eighth 
part of the city now remained to them, and on the 



50 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

13th the enemy's fire was more destructive and 
constant than ever. The great convent of St. En- 
gracia w^as blown up, and the whole of the French 
part of the city glared with flaming houses ; but 
the reports of the batteries gradually ceased, and 
with the early morning light the garrison beheld 
the road to Pamplon filled with French troops in 
full retreat. 

18. Their fortitude had won the day. The 
carnage had ended, and it remained for the sur- 
vivors to clear the streets from the remains of the 
deadly strife and to give thanks for their deliver- 
ance. In testimony of her courage she was to re- 
ceive for life the pay of an artilleryman and to 
wear a little shield of honor embroidered on her 
sleeve. 

Charlotte M. Yonge. 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 



VI. 

THE MAID OF ORLEANS. 

1. Jeanne d'Aec was the child of a laborer of 
Domreniy, a little village in the neighborhood of 
Vaucouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine and 
Champagne. Just without the cottage where she 
was born began the great woods of the Volges, 
where the children of Domremy drank in poetry 
and legend from fairy-ring and haunted well, hung 
their floral garlands on the sacred trees, and sang 
songs to the " good people " who might not drink 
of the fountain because of their sins. Jeanne 
loved the forest ; its birds and beasts came lov- 
ingly to her at her childish call. But at home 
men saw nothing in her but " a good girl, sim23le 
and pleasant in her ways," spinning and sewing by 
her mother's side while the other girls went to the 
fields. Tender to the poor and sick, fond of 
church, and listening to the church-bell with a 



52 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

dreamy passion of delight whicli never left lier. 
This quiet life was broken by the storm of war as 
it at last came home to Domremy. As the out- 
casts and wounded passed by the little village, the 
young peasant-girl gave them her bed and nursed 
them in their sickness. Her whole nature summed 
itself up in one absorbing passion : she " had pity," 
to use the phrase forever on her lip, ^' on the fair 
realm of France." As her passion grew, she re- 
called old prophecies that a maid from the Lor- 
raine border should save the land. She saw 
visions. St. Michael appeared to her in a flood 
of blinding light and bade her go to the help of 
the king and restore to him his realm. '^ Messire," 
answered the girl, " I am but a poor maiden ; I 
know not how to ride to the wars or to lead men- 
at-arms." The archangel returned to give her 
courage and to tell her of ^' the pity " that there 
was in heaven for the fair realm of France. 

2. The girl wept and longed that the angels 
who appeared to her would carry her away ; but 
her mission was clear. It was in vain that her 
father, when he heard of her purpose, swore to 
drown her ere she should go to the field with men- 
at-arms. It was in vain that the priest, the wise 
people of the village, the captain of Vaucouleurs, 
doubted and refused to aid her. '' I must go to 
the king," persisted the peasant-girl, " even if I 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 53 

wear my limbs to the very iaiees." "I had far 
rather rest and spin by my mother's side,'' she 
pleaded, with a touching pathos, " for this is no 
work of my choosing ; but I must go and do it, 
for my Lord wills it." " And who," they asked, 
" is your Lord ? " " He is God." Words such as 
these touched the rough captain at last. He took 
Jeanne by the hand and swore to lead her to the 
king. She reached Chinon in the opening of 
March; but here, too, she found hesitation and 
doubt. The theologians proved from their books 
that thev ouo-ht not to believe her. "There is 
more in God's book than in yours," Jeanne an- 
swered, simply. At last Charles himself received 
her in the midst of a throng of nobles and soldiers. 
"Gentle Dauphin," said the girl, "my name is 
Jeanne the Maid. The heavenly King sends me 
to tell you that you shall be anointed and crowned 
in the town of Rheims, and you shall be lieutenant 
of the heavenly King, who is the King of France." 
3. Orleans had already been driven by famine 
to offers of surrender when Jeanne appeared in 
the French court, and a force was gathering under 
the Count of Dunois at Blois for a final effort at 
its relief. It was at the head of this force that 
Jeanne placed herself. The girl was in her 
eighteenth year, tall, finely formed, wdth all the 
vigor and activity of her peasant rearing, able to 




The people crowded around her as she rode along. 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 55 

stay from dawn to niglitfall on horseback without 
meat or drink. As she mounted her charger, clad 
in white armor from head to foot, with the great 
white banner studded with fleur-de-lys waving 
over her head, she seemed " a thing wholly divine, 
whether to see or hear." 

4. The ten thousand men-at-arms who followed 
her from Blois, rough plunderers whose only 
prayer was that of La Hire, '' Sire Dieu, I pray 
you to do for La Hire what La Hire would do for 
you were you captain-at-arms and he God," left oif 
their oaths and foul living at her word and gath- 
ered round the altars on their march. Her shrewd 
peasant humor helped her to manage the wild sol- 
diery, and her followers laughed over their camp- 
fires at an old warrior who had been so puzzled by 
her prohibition of oaths that she suffered him still 
to swear by his baton, for in the midst of her en- 
thusiasm her good sense never left her. The peo- 
ple crowded round her as she rode along, praying 
her to work miracles, and biinging crosses and 
chaplets to be blessed by her touch. " Touch 
them yourself," she said to an old Dame Marga- 
ret ; " your touch will be just as good as mine." 

5. But her faith in her mission remained as 
firm as ever. " The Maid prays and requires you," 
she wrote to Bedford, " to work no more dis- 
traction in France, but to come in her company to 



56 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the Turk." " I 
bring you," she told Dunois, when he sallied out 
of Orleans to meet her after her two days' march 
from Blois, " I bring you the best aid ever sent to 
any one, the aid of the King of heaven." The be- 
siegers looked on overawed as she entered Orleans, 
and, riding round the walls, bade the people shake 
oif their fear of the forts which surrounded them. 
Her enthusiasm drove the hesitating generals to 
enofasre the handful of besies^ers, and the enormous 
disproportion of the forces at once made itself felt. 
6. Fort after fort was taken, till only the 
strongest remained, and then the council of war 
resolved to adjourn the attack. " You have taken 
your counsel," replied Jeanne, " and I take mine." 
Placing herself at the head of the men-at-arms, she 
ordered the gates to be thrown open, and led them 
against the fort. Few as they were, the English 
fought desperately, and the Maid, who had fallen 
wounded while endeavoring to scale its walls, was 
borne into a vineyard while Dunois sounded the 
retreat. ^' Wait a w^hile," the girl imperiously 
pleaded ; " eat and drink. So soon as my stand- 
ard touches the wall you shall enter the fort." It 
touched, and the assailants burst in. On the next 
day the siege w^as abandoned, and on the 8th of 
May the force which had conducted it withdrew 
in sfood order to the north. 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 57 

7. Ill the midst of her triumph Jeanne still re- 
mained the pure, tender-hearted peasant-girl of 
the Vosges. Her first visit as she entered Orleans 
was to the great church, and there, as she knelt at 
mass, she wept in such a passion of devotion that 
all people wept with her. Her tears burst forth 
afresh at her first sight of bloodshed and of the 
corpses strewn over the battle-field. She grew 
frightened at her first wound, and only threw off 
the touch of womanly fear when she heard the 
signal for retreat. But all thought of herself was 
lost in the thouo:ht of her mission. It was in vain 
that the French generals strove to remain on the 
Loire. Jeanne was resolute to complete her task, 
and while the English remained panic-stricken 
around Paris she besought Charles to march upon 
Rheims, the old crowning-place of the King of 
France. Troyes and Chalons submitted as she 
reached them ; Rheims drove out the English gar- 
rison and threw open her gates to the king. 

8. With the coronation of the Dauphin the 
Maid felt her errand to be over. " O gentle King, 
the pleasure of God is done," she cried, as she 
flung herself at the feet of Charles the Seventh 
and asked leave to go home. '^ Would it were 
his pleasure," she pleaded with the archbishop, as 
he forced her to remain, "that I might go and 
keep sheep once more with my sisters and my 



58 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

brothers ; they would be so glad to see me 
again." 

9. The policy of the French court detained 
her while the cities of the north of France opened 
their gates to the newly-consecrated kin-g. Bed- 
ford, however, who had been left withcdit money- 
or men, had now received reinforcements, and 
Charles, after a repulse before the walls of Paris; 
fell back behind the Loire, while thfe towns ,on 
the Oise submitted again to the Duke of Bur- 
gundy. In this later struggle Jeanne fought again 
with her usual bravery, but with the fatal con- 
sciousness that her mission was at an end, and 
during the defense of Compiegne she fell into the 
hands of the English. To the English her tri- 
umphs were victories of sorcery, and after a year's 
imprisonment she was brought to trial on a chai'ge 
of heresy before an ecclesiastical court with the 
Bishop of Beauvais at its head. Throughout the 
long process wdiich followed, every art was em- 
ployed to entangle her in her talk ; but the simple 
shrewdness of the peasant-girl foiled the efforts of 
her judges. " Do you believe," they asked, " that 
you are in a state of peace ? " ^' If I am not," she 
replied, '' God will put me in it. If I am, God 
will keep me in it." Her capture, they argued, 
showed that God had forsaken her. "Since it 
has pleased God that I should be taken," she an- 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 59 

swered, meekly, ^ it is for the best." '' Will you 
submit," they demanded at last, " to the judgment 
of the Church Militant V "I have come to the 
King of France," Jeanne rej)lied, " by commission 
from God and from the Church Triumphant above. 
To that church I submit. I had far rather die," 
she ended, passionately, ''than renounce what I 
have done by my Lord's command." They de- 
prived her of mass. " Our Lord can make me hear 
it without your aid," she said, weeping. "Do 
your voices," asked the Judges, " forbid you to sub- 
mit to the Church and Pope 'I " '' Ah, no ! Our 
Lord first served." 

10. Sick and deprived of all religious aid, it 
was no wonder that, as the long trial dragged on 
and question followed question, Jeanne's firmness 
wavered. On the charge of sorcery and diabolical 
possession, she still appealed firmly to God. " I 
hold to my Judge," she said, as her earthly Judges 
gave sentence against her, " to the King of heaven 
and earth. God has always been my Lord in all 
that I have done. The devil has never had power 
over me." In the eyes of the Church her mascu- 
line dress was a crime, and she abandoned it ; but 
a renewed insult forced her to resume the one 
safeguard left her, and the return to it was treated 
as a relapse into heresy which doomed her to 
death. A great pile was raised in the market- 



00 STORIES OF OTHEB LANDS. 

place of Rouen, where her statue stands now. 
Even the brutal soldiers, who snatched the hated 
" witcli " from the hands of the clergy and hurried 
lier to her doom, were hushed as she reached the 
stake. One, indeed, passed to her a rough cross 
he had made from a stick he held, and she clasped 
it to her bosom. " Oh, Rouen, Rouen," she was 
heard to murmur, as her eyes ranged over the city 
from the lofty scaffold, " I have great fear lest you 
suft'er for my death. Yes, my voices were of 
God ! " she suddenly cried as the last moment 
came. '' They have never deceived me ! " Soon 
the flames reached her ; the girl's head sank on 
her breast ; there was one cry of " Jesus ! " " We 
are lost," an English soldier muttered as the crowd 
broke up ; " we have burned a saint." 

F. E. Green, 



VII. 
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL 



1. In the early summer of the year 1605 a 
coasting -vessel was sailing along the beautiful 
Gulf of L^^ons, the wind blowing gently in the 
sails, the blue Mediterranean lying glittering to 
the south, and the curved line of the French shore 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 61 

rising in purple and green tints, dotted witli white 
towns and villages. Suddenly three light, white- 
sailed ships appeared in the offing, and the cap- 
tain's 23racticed eye detected that the wings that 
bore them were those of a bird of prey. He knew 
them for African brigantines, and, though he made 
all sail, it was impossible to run into a French 
port, as on they came, not entirely depending on 
the wind, but, like steamers, impelled by unseen 
powers within them. Alas ! that power was not 
the force of innocent steam, but the arms of Chris- 
tian rowers chained to the oar. Sure as the 
pounce of a hawk upon a partridge was the swoop 
of the corsairs upon the French vessel. A signal 
to surrender followed, but the captain boldly re- 
fused and armed his crew, bidding them stand to 
their guns. But the fight was too unequal, the 
brave little ship was disabled. The pirates boarded 
her, and, after a sharp fight on deck, three of the 
crew lay dead, all the rest were wounded, and the 
vessel was the prize of the pirates. The captain 
was at once killed in revenge for his resistance, 
and all the rest of the crew and passengers were 
put in chains. 

2. Among these passengers was a young priest 
named Vincent cle Paul, the son of a farmer in 
Languedoc, who had used his utmost endeavors 
to educate his son for the ministry, even selling 



62 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

tlie oxen from the plow to provide for the col- 
lege expenses. A small legacy had just fallen to 
the young man from a relative who had died at 
Marseilles. He had been thither to receive it, and 
had been persuaded by a friend to return home by 
sea ; and this was the result of the pleasant voy- 
age. The legacy was the prey of the pirates, and 
Vincent, severely wounded by an arrow and heavi- 
ly chained, lay stifled in a corner of the hold of 
the shij), a captive probably for life to the enemies 
of the faith. It was true that France had scandal- 
ized -Europe by making peace with the Dey of 
Tunis ; but this was a trifle to the corsairs, and 
when, after seven days' further cruising, they put 
into the harbor of Tunis, they drew up an account 
of their capture, calling it a Spanish vessel to pre- 
vent the French consul from claiming the pris- 
oners. 

3. The captives had the coarse blue-and-white 
garments of slaves given them, and \vere walked 
fiYe or six times through the streets of Tunis by 
way of exhibition. They were then brought back 
to their ship, and the purchasers came thither to 
bargain for them. They were examined at their 
meals to see if they had good appetites ; their 
sides were felt like those of oxen; their teeth 
looked at like those of horses ; their wounds were 
searched, and they were made to run and walk to 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 63 

show tlie play of tlieir limbs. All this Vincent 
endured with patient submission, constantly sup- 
ported by thought of Him who took upon Him 
the form of a servant for our sakes ; and he did his 
best, ill as he was, to give his companions the same 
confidence. 

4. Weak and unwell, Vincent was sold cheap 
to a fisherman ; but in his new service it soon be- 
came apparent that the sea made him so ill as to 
be of no use, so he was sold again to one of the 
Moorish physicians, the like of whom may still be 
seen, smoking their pipes sleepily under their 
white turbans, cross-legged, among the drugs in 
their shop-windows, these being the small open 
spaces between the beautiful lace- work of Moorish 
lattices. The physician was a great chemist and 
distiller, and for four years had been seeking the 
philosopher's stone, which was supposed to be the 
secret of making gold. He found his slave's learn- 
ing and intelligence so useful that he grew very 
fond of him and tried hard to persuade him to 
turn Mohammedan, offering him not only liberty, 
but the inheritance of all his wealth and the se- 
crets that he had discovered. 

5. The Christian priest felt the temptation 
sufficiently to be always grateful for the grace 
that had carried him through it. At the end of a 
year the old doctor died and his nephew sold Vim 



64 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

cent again. His next master was a native of- Nice, 
who liad not lield oat against the temptation to 
renounce his faith in order to avoid a life of 
slavery, but had become a renegade and had charge 
of one of the farms of the Dey of Tunis. The 
farm was on a hillside, in an extremely hot and 
exposed region, and Vincent suffered much from 
being there set to held-labor ; but he endured all 
without a murmur. 

6. His master had three wives, and one of 
them, who was of Turkish birth, used often to 
come out and talk to him, asking him many 
questions about his religion. Sometimes she 
asked him to sing, and he would then chant the 
psalm of the captive Jews, "By the waters of 
Babylon we sat down and wept," and others of the 
" songs " of his Zion. The woman at last told her 
husband that he must have been wrong in forsak- 
ing a religion of which her slave had told her such 
wonderful things. Her words had such an effect 
on the renegade that he sought the slave, and in 
conversation with him soon came to a full sense of 
his own miserable position as an apostate. A 
change of religion on the part of a Mohammedan 
is, however, always visited with death both to the 
convert and his instructor. 

7. An Algerine, who was discovered to have 
become a Christian, was about this time said to 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 65 

have been walled up at once in the fortification 
he had been building ; and the story has been con- 
firmed by the recent discovery by the French en- 
gineers of the remains of a man within a huge 
block of clay that had taken a perfect cast of his 
Moorish features and of the surface of his gar- 
ments, and even had his black hair adhering to it. 
Vincent's master, terrified at such perils, resolved 
to make his escape in secret with his slave. 

8. It is disappointing to hear nothing of the 
wife, and not to know whether she would not or 
could not accompany them. All we know is that 
master and slave trusted themselves alone to a 
small bark, and, safely crossing the Mediterranean, 
landed at Aignes Mortes on the 28th of June, 
1607, and that the renegade at once abjured his 
false faith and soon after entered a brotherhood 
at Eome, whose office it was to wait on the sick 
in hospitals. 

9. This part of Vincent de Paul's life Jias been 
told at length because it shows from what the 
knights of St. John strove to protect the inhabi- 
tants of the coasts. We next find Vincent visit- 
ing at a hospital at Paris, where he gave such ex- 
ceeding comfort to the patients that all with one 
voice declared him a messenger from Heaven. 

10. He afterward became a tutor in the family 
of the Count de Joigni, a very excellent man, who 



66 S TOBIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

was very easily led by him to many good works. 
M. de Joigni was inspector-general of the "ga- 
leres/' or hulks — the ships in the chief harbors of 
France, such as Brest and Marseilles, where the 
convicts, closely chained, were kept at hard labor 
and often made to toil at the oar like the slaves 
of the Africans. Going the round of these prison- 
ships, the horrible state of the convicts, their half- 
naked misery, and still more their fiendisk ferocity, 
went to the heart of the Count and of the Abbe 
de Paul; and, with full authority from the in- 
spector, the tutor worked among these wretched 
beings with such good effect that, on his doings 
being represented to the King, Louis XIII, he 
was made almoner-general to the galleys. 

11. While visiting those at Marseilles, he was 
much struck by the broken-down looks and ex- 
ceedino; sorrowfulness of one of the convicts. He 
entered into conversation with him, and, after 
many kind words, persuaded him to tell his trou- 
bles. His sorrow was far less for his own condi- 
tion than for the misery to which his absence 
must needs reduce his wife and children. And 
what was Vincent's reply to this ? His action 
was so striking: that, thouo^h in itself it could 
hardly be safe to propose it as an example, it must 
be mentioned as the very height of self -sacrifice. 

12. He absolutely changed places with the con- 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 67 

vict. Probably some arrangement was made witli 
the immediate jailor of the gang, who by the ex- 
change of the priest for the convict conld make up 
his full tale of men to show when his numbers 
were counted. At any rate the prisoner went free 
and returned to his home, while Vincent wore a 
convict's chain, did a convict's work, lived on con- 
vict fare, and, what was worse, had only convict 
society. He was soon sought out and released, 
but the hurts he had received from the pressure of 
the chain lasted all his life. 

13. He never spoke of this event ; it was kept 
a strict secret, and, once when he had referred to 
it in a letter to a friend, he became so much afraid 
that the story would become known that he sent 
to ask for the letter back again. It was, however, 
not returned, and it makes the fact certain. It 
would be a dangerous precedent if prison chap- 
lains were to change places with their charges, 
and, beautiful as was Vincent's spirit, the act can 
hardly be justified ; but it should also be remem- 
bered that, among the galleys of France, there 
were then many who had been condemned for re- 
sistance to the arbitrary will of Cardinal de Riche- 
lieu, men not necessarily corrupt and degraded 
like the thieves and murderers with whom they 
were associated. At any rate M. de Joigni did 
not displace the almoner, and Vincent worked on 



68 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

the consciences of the convicts with infinitely more 
force for having been for a time one of themselves. 
Many and many were won back to penitence, a 
hospital was fonnded for them, better regulations 
established, and for a time both prisons and gal- 
leys were wonderfully improved, although only 
for the lifetime of the good inspector and saintly 
almoner. 

14. He established the order of the Sisters of 
Charity, the excellent women who have for two 
hundred years been the prime workers in every 
charitable task in France, nursing the sick, teach- 
ing the young, tending deserted children, ever to 
be found where there is distress or pain. 

15. The redemption of the prisoners in Africa 
might have secured his first thought, but that he 
did so much in other quarters. At different times 
with the alms that he collected, and out of the 
revenues of his benefices, he ransomed no less than 
twelve hundred slaves from their captivity. At 
one time the French Consul at Tunis wrote to him 
that for a certain sum a large number might be 
set free, and he raised enough to release not only 
these but seventy more, and he further wrought 
upon the king to obtain the consent of the Dey of 
Tunis that a party of Christian clergy should be 
permitted to reside in the consul's house and to 
minister to the souls and bodies of the Christian 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 69 

slaves^ of whom there were six thousand in Tunis 
alone, besides those in Algiers, Tangier, and 
Tripoli. 

16. Permission was gained, and a mission of 
Lazarist Brothers arrived. This, too, was an order 
founded by Vincent, consisting of priestly nurses 
like the Hospitallers, though not like them, war- 
riors. They came in the midst of a dreadful visita- 
tion of the plague, and nursed and tended the sick, 
both Christians and Mohammedans, with fearless 
devotion day and night till they won the honor 
and love of the Moors themselves. 

1 7. The good Vincent de Paul died in the year 
1660, but his Brothers of St. Lazarus and the 
Sisters of Charity still tread in the paths he 
marked out for them, and his name scarcely needs 
the saintly epithet the Church has affixed to it to 
stand among the most honorable and charitable of 
men. 

Charlotte M, Yonge. 



VIII. 

WATERLOO. 



1. Napoleot^ landed from Elba on the 1st of 
March, 1815, on the coast near Cannes, and, fol- 
lowed only by a thousand of his guards, he marched 
over the mountains to Grenoble and Lyons. He 



70 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

counted, and Justly, on the indifference of tlie 
country to its new Bourbon rulers, on the longing 
of the army for a fresh struggle which should re- 
store its glory, and, above all, on the S23ell of his 
name over soldiers whom he had so often led to 
victory. In twenty days from his landing he 
reached the Tuileries unopposed, while Louis 
XVIII fled helplessly to Ghent. But whatever 
hopes he had drawn from the divisions of the 
allied powers were at once dispelled by their 
resolute action on the news of his return to France. 
Their strife was hushed, and their old union re- 
stored by the consciousness of a common danger. 

2. A declaration adopted instantly by all put 
Napoleon under the ban of Europe. An engage- 
ment to supply a million of men for the purposes 
of the war and a recall of their armies to the 
Rhine, gave practical effect to the words of the 
allies. England furnished subsidies to the amount 
of eleven millions of pounds to support these enor- 
mous hosts, and hastened to place an army on the 
frontier of the Netherlands. 

3. The best troops of the force which had been 
employed in the Peninsula, however, were still 
across the Atlantic, and of the eighty thousand 
men who gathered round Wellington only about 
half were Englishmen, the rest principally raw 
levies from Belgium and Hanover. The Duke's 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 



n 



plan was to unite with the one hundred and fifty 
thousand Prussians under Marshal Blucher, who 

were advancing on 
the Lower Rhine, 
and to enter France 
by Bons and Na- 
mur, while the forces 
of Austria and Rus- 
sia closed in upon 
Paris by way of Bel- 
fort and Elsass. 

4. Napoleon threw 
aside all thoughts of 
a defensive war. By 
amazing efforts he 
raised an army of 
two hundred and fifty thousand men in the three 
months since his arrival at Paris, and in the open- 
ing of June one hundred and twenty thousand 
Frenchmen were concentrated on the Sambre, 
while Wellington's troops still lay on the line of 
the Scheldt, and Blucher's on that of the Meuse, 
Both the allied armies hastened to unite, but their 
Junction was nearly impossible. Blucher with 
eighty thousand men was himself attacked on the 
16th by Napoleon at Ligny, and after a desperate 
contest was driven back with terrible loss. 

5. On the same day Ney, with twenty thou- 




Wellington. 



72 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

sand men and about the same number in reserve, 
ap23eared before Quatre Bras, where as yet only 
ten thousand English and the same force of Bel- 
gian troops had been able to assemble. The Bel- 
gians broke before the charges of the French 
horse; but the dogged resistance of the English 
infantry gave time for Wellington to bring up 
corps after corps, till at the close of day Ney saw 
himself heavily outnumbered, and withdrew baf- 
fled from the held. 

6. About five thousand men had fallen on 
either side in this fierce engagement ; but, heavy 
as was Wellington's loss, the forerunners of the 
English army had already done much to foil Napo- 
leon's effort at breaking through the lines of the 
allies. Blucher's retreat, however, left the Eng- 
lish flank uncovered, and on the follo^^'ing day 
Wellington, with nearly seventy thousand men, 
withdrew in good order upon Waterloo, followed 
by the mass of the French forces under the Em- 
peror himself. 

7. Napoleon had detached Marshal Grouchy 
with thirty thousand men to hang upon the rear of 
the beaten Prussians, while with a force of eighty 
thousand men he resolved to brins; Wellino-ton to 
battle. On the morning of the 18th of June the 
two armies faced each other on the field of A¥a- 
terloo. Napoleon's one fear had been that of con- 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 73 

tinued retreat. " I have them ! '' he cried, as he 
saw the English line drawn up on a low rise of 
ground which stretched across the high-road. He 
had some grounds for his confidence of success. 

8. On either side the forces numbered between 
seventy and eighty thousand men ; but the French 
were superior in guns and cavahy, and a consid- 
erable portion of Wellington's force consisted of 
Belgian levies, who broke and fled at the outset of 
the fight. A fierce attack upon the English right 
opened the battle at eleven, but it was not until 
midday that the French advanced upon the center, 
which from that time bore the main brunt of the 
struggle. 

9. Never has greater courage, whether of at- 
tack or endurance, been shown upon any field than 
was shown by both columns at Waterloo. The 
advanced corps of the French, repulsed by the 
English foot, were hurled back in disorder by a 
charge of the Scotch Grrays ; but the victorious 
horsemen were crushed in their turn by the French 
cuirassiers, and the mass of the French cavahy, 
twelve thousand strong, flung itself in charge after 
charge on the English front, carrying the English 
guns and sweeping with desperate bravery round 
the unbroken squares, whose fire thinned their 
ranks. With equal bravery the French columns 
of the center again advanced, wrested at last the 



74 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

form of La Haye Sainte from their opponents, and 
pushed on vigorously, though in vain, under Ney 
against the troops in the rear. 

10. Terrible as was the English loss — and many 
of the regiments were reduced to a mere handful 
of men — Wellington stubbornly held his ground, 
while the Prussians, advancing as they promised 
from Havre through deep and miry forest-roads, 
were slowly gathering to his support, disregarding 
the attack in their rear, by which Grouchy strove 
to hold them back from the field. At half -past 
four their advanced guard deployed at last from 
the woods ; but the main body was still far behind, 
and Napoleon was able to hold his ground against 
them till their increasing masses forced him to 
stake all on a desperate effort against the English 
front. 

11. The Imperial Guard, his only reserve, and 
which as yet had taken no part in the battle, was 
drawn up at seven in two columns of attack. The 
first, with Ney himself at its head, swept all be- 
fore it as it mounted the rise beside La Haye 
Sainte, on which the thin English line still held 
its ground, and all but touched the English front 
when its mass, torn by the terrible fire of mus- 
ketry with which it was secured, gave way before 
the charge of the English guards. 

12. The second, three thousand strong, ad- 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 75 

vanced witli the same courage upon the right, 
only to be repulsed and shattered in the same 
way. At the moment when these masses, broken 
but still unconquered, fell slowly and doggedly 
back down the Held-rise, the Prussians pushed 
forward some forty thousand men on Napoleon's 
right. Their guns swept the field, and Wel- 
lington seized the moment for a general ad- 
vance. 

13. From that moment all was lost to the oTeat 
conqueror of Europe. Only the Old Guard stood 
firm in the wreck of the French army, and nothing 
but nio:ht and exhaustion checked the Eno^lish in 
their pursuit of the broken masses who hurried 
from the field. The Prussian horse continued the 
chase through the night, and only forty thousand 
Frenchmen with some thirty guns recrossed the 
Sambre. Napoleon fled hurriedly to Paris, and 
his second abdication was followed by the tri- 
umphant entry of the English and Prussian armies 
into the French capital. 

THE EVE BEFORE WATERLOO. 

1. There was a sound of revelry by night. 

And Belgium's capital had gathered then 
Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright 

The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave 
men. 



76 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when 
Music arose with its voluptuous swell. 

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake 
again, 
And all went merry as a marriage-bell. 
But, hush ! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a 
rising knell ! 

2. Did ye not hear it? — No ; 'twas but the wind. 
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street. 
On with the dance ! let joy be unconfined ; 
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure 

meet 
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet ! 
But, hark ! that heavy sound breaks in once 
more. 
As if the clouds its echo would repeat ; 
And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before ! 
Arm ! arm ! it is — it is the cannon's opening 
roar ! 

8. Ah ! then and there was hurrying to and fro. 
And gathering tears, and tremblings of dis-= 
tress, 
And cheeks all pale, which but an hour "ago 
Blushed at the praise of their own loveli- 
ness ; 
And there were sudden partings, such as 
press 



STORIES OF FRANCE. 77 

The life from out young hearts, and choking 
sighs 
Which ne'er might be repeated ; who could 
guess 
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, 
Since upon night so sweet such awful morn 
could rise ! 

And there was mounting in hot haste; the 
steed. 
The mustering squadron, and the clattering 
car. 
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, 
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war ; 
And the deep thunder peal on peal afar ; 
And near, the beat of the alarming drum 

Eoused up the soldier ere the morning star ; 
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, 
Or whispering with white lips, " The foe ! 
They come ! they come ! " 

And Ardennes waves above them her green 
leaves. 

Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass. 
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves. 

Over the unreturning brave — alas ! 

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass 
Which now beneath them, but above shall grow 

In its next verdure, when this fiery mass 



78 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

Of living valor, rolling on tlie foe. 
And burning with high hope, shall molder cold 
and low. 

6. Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, 
Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay ; 
The midnight brought the signal -sound of 
strife — 
The morn, the marshaling in arms — the day, 
Battle's magnificently stern array ! 
The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when 
rent 
The earth is covered thick with other clay. 
Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and 

pent, 
Rider and horse — friend, foe — in one red burial 
blent ! 

Byron, 



STOEIES OF CENTRAL EUEOPE. 



IX. 

A LEGEND OF BREGENZ. 

1. GiKT round witli rugged mountains 

The fair Lake Constance lies ; 
In her blue heart reflected, 

Shine back the starry skies ; 
And watching each white cloudlet 

Float silently and slow^ 
You think a piece of heaven 

Lies on our earth below ! 

2. Midnight is there ; and silence, 

Enthroned in heaven, looks down 
Upon her own calm mirror. 

Upon a sleeping town ; 
For Bregenz, that quaint city 

Upon the Tyrol shore. 
Has stood above Lake Constance, 

A thousand years and more. 

6 



80 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

3. Her battlements and towers 

Upon this rocky steep, 
Have cast their trembling shadow 

For ages on the deep ; 
Mountain, and lake, and valley, 

A sacred legend know. 
Of how the town was saved one night, 

Three hundred years ago. 

4„ Far from her home and kindred, 

A Tyrol maid had fled. 
To serve in the Swiss valleys, 

And toil for daily bread , 
And every year that fleeted 

So silently and fast, 
Seemed to bear farther from her 

The memory of the past. 

5. She served kind, gentle masters, 

Nor asked for rest or change ; 
Her friends seemed no more new ones. 

Their S23eech seemed no more strange ; 
And when she led the cattle 

To pasture every day. 
She ceased to look and wonder 

On which side Bregenz lay. 

6. She spoke no more of Bregenz 

With longing and with tears ; 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 81 

Her Tyrol* home seemed faded 

In a deep mist of years ; 
She heeded not the rumors 

Of Austrian war or strife ; 
Each day she rose contented 

To the calm toils of life. 

7. Yet^ when he^- master's children 

Would clustering round her stand^ 
She sang them the old ballads 

Of her own native land ; 
And when at morn and evening 

She knelt before God's throne, 
The accents of her childhood 

Rose to her lips alone. 

8. And so she dwelt ; the valley, 

More peaceful year by year, 
When suddenly strange portents 

Of some great deed seemed near. 
The golden corn was bending 

Upon its fragile stalk, 
While farmers, heedless of their fields, 

Paced up and down in talk. 

9. The men seemed stern and altered. 

With looks cast on the ground ; 
With anxious faces, one by one. 
The women gathered round ; 



82 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

All talk of flax, or spinning, 

Or work, was put away ; 
The very children seemed afraid 

To go alone to play. 

10. One day, out in the meadow. 

With strangers from the town, 
Some secret plan discussing. 

The men walked up and down. 
Yet, now and then seemed watching 

A strange uncertain gleam, 
That looked like lances 'mid the trees^ 

That stood below the stream. 

11. At eve they all assembled. 

All care and doubt were fled ; 
With jovial laugh they feasted. 

The board was nobly spread. 
The elder of the village 

Rose up, his glass in hand, \ 

And cried, " We drink the downfall | 

Of an accursed land ! 

12. "The night is grooving darker. 

Ere one more day is flown, 
Bregenz, our foemen's stronghold, 

Bregenz shall be our own ! " 
The women shrank in terror 

(Yet Pride, too. had her part)^ 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 83 

But one poor Tyrol maiden 
Felt death within her heart. 

13. Before her stood fair Bregenz, 

Once more her towers rose ! 
What were her friends beside her ? 

Only her country's foes ! 
The faces of her kinsfolk, 

The days of childhood flown, 
The echoes of her mountains, 

Reclaimed her as their own ! 

14. Nothing she heard around her 

(Though shouts rang forth again), 
Gone were the green Swiss valleys. 

The pasture, and the plain ; 
Before her eyes one vision, 

And in her heart one cry. 
That said, " Go forth, save Bregenz, 

And then, if need be, die ! " 

15. With trembling haste and breathless, 

With noiseless step she sped ; 
Horses and weary cattle 

Were standing in the shed ; 
She loosed the strong white charger. 

That fed from out her hand, 
She mounted and she turned his head 

Toward her native land. 



84 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

16. Out — out into the darkness — 

Faster, and still more fast ; 
The smooth grass flies behind her, 

The chestnut woods are passed ! 
She looks up ; clouds are heavy ; 

Why is her steed so slow ? 
Scarcely the wind beside them, 

Can pass them as they go. 

17. " Faster ! " she cries, " oh, faster ! " 

Eleven the church-bells chime ; 
" O God ! " she cries, " help Bregenz, 

And bring me there in time ! " 
But louder than bells' ringing. 

Or lowing of the kine. 
Grows nearer in the midnight 

The rushino^ of the Rhine, 

18. Shall not the roaring waters 

Their headlong gallop check ? 
The steed draws back in terror. 

She leans upon his neck 
To watch the flowing darkness. 

The bank is high and steep ; 
One pause — he staggers forward, 

And plunges in the deep. 

19. She strives to pierce the blackness, 

And looser throws the rein ; 




Aiul out come serf and soldier 
To meet the news she 



86 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

Her steed must breast the waters 
That dash above his mane. 

How gallantly, how nobly, 

He struggles through the foam, 

And see — in the far distance — 
Shine out the lights of home ! 

20o Up the steep bank he bears her, 

And now they rush again 
Toward the heights of Bregenz, 

That tower above the plain. 
They reach the gate of Bregenz 

Just as the midnight rings. 
And out come serf and soldier 

To meet the news she brings. 

21. Bregenz is saved ! Ere daylight 

Her battlements are manned ! 
Defiance greets the army 

That marches on the land. 
And if to deeds heroic 

Should endless fame be paid, 
Bregenz does well to honor 

The noble Tyrol maid. 

22. Three hundred years are vanished, 

And yet upon the hill 
An old stone gateway rises, 
To do her honor still. 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 87 

And there, wlien Bregenz women 

Sit spinning in the shade, 
They see in quaint old carving 

The charger and the maid. 

23. And when, to guard old Bregenz, 

By gateway, street, and tower, 
The warder paces all night long. 

And calls each passing hour : 
" Nine," " ten," " eleven," he cries aloud, 

And then (oh, crown of Fame !), 
When midnight pauses in the skies. 

He calls the maiden's name ! 

Adelaide ProctoVo 



X. 

THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS. 

1. Philip Van Aetevelde was a Dutchman. 
He lived and died in the fourteenth century, when 
feuds were rife, and great walls were built about 
the cities to keep out meddlesome and marauding 
neighbors. Philip's father, Jacob, a popular and 
influential leader, had been Governor of Ghent, 
and had made himself a great name by leading a 
revolt against the Count of Flanders, and driving 



88 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

that tyrant out of the country on one occasion. 
Philip was a quiet man, who attended to his own 
affairs and took no part in public business ; but 
in the year 1381 the good people of Ghent found 
themselves in a very great difficulty. Their city 
was subject to the Count of Flanders, who op- 
pressed them in every way. He and his nobles 
thought nothing of the common people, but taxed 
them heavily and intej'fered with their business. 
The city of Bruges was the rival of Ghent, and in 
those days rivals in trade were enemies. The 
Bruges people were not satisfied with trying to 
make more money and get more business than 
Ghent could, but they wanted Ghent destroyed, and 
so they supported Count Louis in all that he did 
to injure their neighboring city. 

2. Having this quarrel on their hands, the 
Ghent people did not know what to do. Count 
Louis was too strong for them, and they were very 
much afraid he would destroy their town and put 
the people to death. 

3. A public meeting was held, and, remember- 
ing how w^ell old Jacob Van Artevelde had served 
them against the father of Count Louis, they made 
his son Philip their captain, and told him he must 
manage this quarrel for them. 

4. Philip undertook this duty, and tried to 
settle the trouble in some peaceable way ; but the 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 89 

Couut was angry, and would not listen to any- 
thing that Van Artevelde proposed. He said the 
Ghent people were rebels, and must submit with- 
out any conditions at all, and this the sturdy 
Ghent burghers refused to do. 

5. Count Louis would not march against the 
town and give the people a fail* chance to light 
the matter out. He preferred to starve them, and 
for that purpose he put soldiers on all the roads 
leading toward Ghent, and refused to allow any 
provisions to be taken to the city. 

6. The people soon ate up nearly all the food 
they had, and when the spring of 1382 came they 
were starving. Something must be done at once, 
and Philip Van Artevelde decided that it was of 
no use to resist any longer. He took twelve depu- 
ties with him, and went to beg the Count for 
mercy. He offered to submit to any terms the Count 
might propose, if he w^ould only promise not to put 
any of the people to death. Philip even offered him- 
self as a victim, agreeing that the Count should 
banish him from the country as a punishment, if 
he would spare the people of the town. But the 
haughty Count would promise nothing. He said 
that all the people of Ghent, from fifteen to sixty 
years old, must march half-way to Bruges bare- 
headed, with no clothes on but their shirts, and 
each with a rope around his neck, and then he 



90 - STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

would decide liow mauy of them he would put to 
death and how many he would spare. 

7. The Count thought the poor Ghent people 
would have to submit to this, and he meant to 
put them all to death when they should thus come 
out without arms to surrender. He therefore 
called on his vassals to meet him in Bruges at 
Easter, and to go out with him to " destroy these 
troublesome bui'ghers." 

8. But the "troublesome burghers," as we 
shall see presently, were not the kind of men to 
walk out bare-headed, with ropes around their 
necks, and submit to destruction. 

9. Philip Van Artevelde returned sadly to 
Ghent on the 29th of April, and told the people 
what the Count had said. Then the gallant old 
soldier, Peter van den Bossche, exclaimed : " In a 
few days the town of Ghent shall be the most 
honored or the most humbled town in Christen- 
dom." 

10. Van Artevelde called the burghers to- 
gether, and told them what the situation was. 
There were thirty thousand people in Ghent, and 
there was no food to be had for them. There 
was no hope that the Count would offer any 
better terms, or that anybody would come to 
their assistance. They mu^t decide quickly what 
they would do, and Philij) said there were three 




The march from Ghent. 



92 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

courses open to them. First, if they chose, they 
could wall up the gates of the town and die 
of starvation. Secondly, they could accept the 
Count's terms, march out wdth ropes around their 
necks, and take whatever punishment the Count 
might put upon them. If they should decide to 
do that, Philip said he would oifer himself to the 
Count to be hanged first. Thirdly, they could 
get together ^\q thousand of their best men, march 
to Bruges', and fight the quarrel out. 

11. The answer of the people w^as that Philip 
must decide for them, and he at once said, " Then 
we will fight." The ^ye thousand men were got 
together, and on the 1st of May they marched out 
of the town to win or lose the desperate battle. 
The priests of the city stood at the gates as the 
men marched out, and prayed for blessings upon 
them. The old men, the women, and the children 
cried out : " If you lose the battle you need not 
return to Ghent, for you will find your families 
dead in their homes." 

12. The only food there was for these five 
thousand men was carried in five little carts, 
while on another cart two casks of wine were 
taken. 

13. The next day Van Artevelde placed his 
little army in line on the common of Be verh outs- 
veld, at- Oedelem, near Bruges. There was a 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 93 

marsh in front of them, and Van Artevelde pro- 
tected their flank by a fortification consisting of 
the carts and some stakes driven into the ground. 
He then sent a messenger to the Count, begging 
him to pardon the people of Ghent, and, having 
done this, he ordered his men to go to sleep for 
the night. 

14. At daybreak the next morning tlie little 
army was aroused to make final preparations for 
the desperate work before them. The priests ex- 
horted the men to fight to the death, showing them 
how useless it would be to surrender or to run 
away, as they w ere sure to be put to death at any 
rate. Their only hope for life was in victory, and, 
if they could not win that, it would be better to 
die fighting like men than to surrender and be put 
to death like dogs. 

15. After these exhortations were given, seven 
gray friars said mass, and gave the sacrament to 
all the soldiers. Then the fiYe cart-loads of pro- 
visions and the two casks of wine were divided 
amono^ the men for their last breakfast. When 
that meal was eaten, the soldiers of Ghent had not 
an ounce of food left anywhere. 

16. Meanwhile the Count called his men to- 
gether in Bruges^ and got them ready for battle ; 
but the people of Bruges were so sure of easily 
destroying the little Ghent army that they would 



94 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

not wait for orders, but marclied out shouting and 
singing and making merry. 

17. As their column marched along the road 
in this noisy fashion, the " troublesome burghers " 
of Ghent suddenly sprang upon them, crying 
'^ Ghent ! Ghent ! " The charge was so sudden 
and so fierce that the Bruges people gave way 
and fled in a panic toward the town, with Van 
Artevelde's men at their heels in hot pursuit. The 
Count's regular troops tried to make a stand, but 
the burghers of Ghent came upon them so fu- 
riously that they became panic-stricken and fled. 
The Count himself ran with all his might, and as 
soon as he entered the city he ordered the gates to 
be shut. He was so anxious to save himself from 
the fury of Van Artevelde's soldiers that he 
wanted to close the gates at once and leave those 
of his own people who were still outside to their 
fate. But it was already too late. Van Arte- 
velde's column had followed the retreating crowd 
so fast that it had already pushed its head into 
the town, and there was no driving it back. 

18. The five thousand " troublesome burgh- 
ers," with their swords in their hands^ and still 
crying '^ Ghent ! " swarmed into Bruges, and quick- 
ly took possession of the town. The Count's army 
was utterly routed and scattered, and the Count 
himself would have been taken prisoner if one of 



STORIES OB' CENTRAL EUROPE. 95 

the Ghent burghers had not hidden him and 
helped him to escape from the city. Van Arte- 
velde's soldiers, who had eaten the last of their 
food that morning in the belief that they would 
never eat another meal on earth, supped that 
night on the richest dishes that Bruges could sup- 
ply ; and, now that the Count was overthrown, 
great wagon-trains of provisions poured into poor, 
starving Ghent. 

19. There was a great golden dragon on the 
bellfry of Bruges, of which the Bruges people 
were very proud. That dragon had once stood on 
the church of St. Sophia, in Constantinople, and 
the Emperor Baldwin had sent it as a present to 
Bruges. In token of the victory. Van Artevelde's 
" troublesome burghers " took down the golden 
drao^on and carried it to Ghent. 

George Gary Eggleston. 



XI. 
MARLBOROUGH AT BLENHEIM. 

1. Upon his appointment, Marlborough has- 
tened to the Hague, received the command of the 
Dutch as well as of the English forces, and drew 

7 



96 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

the German powers into the confederacy with a 
skill and adroitness which even William (Will- 
iam III) might have envied. Never was great- 
ness more quickly recognized than in the case of 
Marlborough. In a few months he was regarded 
by all as the guiding spirit of the alliance, and 
princes whose jealousy had worn out the patience 
of William yielded without a struggle to the coun- 
sels of his successor. The temper, indeed, of Marl- 
borough, fitted him in an especial ^vay to be the 
head of a great confederacy. Like William, he 
owed little of his power to any early training. 
The trace of his neglected education was seen to 
the last in his reluctance to write. '' Of all things," 
he said to his wife, " I do not love writing." To 
pen a dispatch, indeed, was a far greater trouble 
to him than to plan a campaign. But Nature had 
given him qualities which in other men spring 
specially from culture. 

2. His capacity for business was immense. Dur- 
ing the next ten years he assumed the general di- 
rection of the war in Flanders and in Spain. He 
managed every negotiation with the courts of the 
allies. He watched over the shifting phases of 
English politics. He had to cross the Channel to 
win over Anne to a change in the cabinet, or to 
hurry to Berlin to secure the due contingent of 
Electoral troo^^s from Brandenburg. At the same 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 97 

moment he was reconciling tlie Emperor witli tlie 
Protestants of Hungary, stirring the Calvinists of 
the Cevennes into revolt, arranging the affairs of 
Portugal, and providing for the protection of the 
Duke of Savoy. But his air showed no trace of 
fatigue, or haste, or vexation. He retained to the 
last the indolent grace of his youth. His natural 
dignity was never ruffled by an outbreak of tem- 
per. Amid the storm of battle men saw him 
"without fear of danger, or in the least hurry, 
giving his orders with all the calmness imagi- 
nable." 

3. In the cabinet he was as cool as on the bat- 
tle field. He met with the same equable serenity 
the pettishness of the German princes, the phlegm 
of the Dutch, the ignorant opposition of his officers, 
and the libels of his political opponents. There 
was a touch of irony in the simple expedients by 
which he sometimes solved problems which had 
baffled cabinets. The King of Prussia was one 
of the most vexatious among the allies, but all 
difficulty with him ceased when Marlborough rose 
at a state banquet and handed to him a napkin. 

4. As a statesman the high qualities of Marl- 
borough were owned by his bitterest foes. " Over 
the confederacy," says Bolingbroke, " he, a new, a 
private man, acquired by meiit and management a 
more decided influence than hisrh birth, confirmed 



98 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

authority, and even tlie crown of Great Britain 
had given to King William." But, great as he was 
in the council, he was even greater in the field. 
He stands alone among the masters of the art of 
war as a captain whose victories began at an age 
when the work of most men is done. Thouo-h he 
served as a young officer under Turenne and for 
a few months in Ireland and the Netherlands, he 
had held no great command till he took the field 
in Flanders at the age of fifty-two. He stands 
alone, too, in his unbroken good fortune. Voltaire 
notes that he never besieged a fortress which he 
did not take, or fought a battle which he did not 
win. 

5. In spite of victories on the Danube, the 
blunders of his adversaries on the Rhine, and the 
sudden aid of an insurrection which broke out in 
Hungary, the difficulties of Louis XIV were hourly 
increasing. The accession of Savoy to the grand 
alliance threatened his armies in Italy wdth de- 
struction. That of Portugal gave the allies a base 
of operations against Spain. His energy, however, 
rose with the pressure, and while the Duke of Ber- 
wick was dispatched against Portugal, and three 
small armies closed round Savoy, the flower of the 
French troops joined the army of Bavaria on the 
Danube, for the bold plan of Louis was to decide 
the fortunes of the war by a victory which would 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 99 

wrest peace from the empire under the walls of 
Vienna. 

6. The master-stroke of Louis roused Marl- 
borough at the opening of 1704 to a master-stroke 
in return ; but the secrecy and boldness of the 
Duke's plans deceived both his enemies and his 
allies. The French army in Flanders saw in his 
march upon Mentz only a transfer of the war into 
Alsace. The Dutch were lured into suffering their 
troops to be drawn as far from Flanders as Coblentz 
by proposals of a campaign on the Moselle. It was 
only when Marlborough crossed the Neckar and 
struck through the heart of Germany for the Dan- 
ube that the true aim of his operations was re- 
vealed. 

7. After struggling through the hill-country of 
Wurtemberg, he joined the imperial army under 
the Prince of Baden, stormed the heights of Donau- 
worth, crossed the Danube and the Lech, and pene- 
trated into the heart of Bavaria. The crisis drew 
the two armies which were facing each other on 
the Upper Ehine to the scene. The arrival of 
Marshal Tallard with thirty thousand French 
troops saved the Elector of Bavaria for the mo- 
ment from the need of submission. But the junc- 
tion of his opponent Prince Eugene, the command- 
er of the Austrian army, with Marlborough raised 
the contending forces again to an equality; and 



100 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

after a few marches the armies met ou the north 
bank of the Danube near the little town of Hoch- 
stadt and the village of Blenheim, which have 
given their names to the battle. 

8. In one respect the struggle which followed 
stands unrivaled in history, for the whole of the 
Teutonic race was represented in the strange med- 
ley of Englishmen, Dutchmen, Hanoverians, Danes, 
Wlirtembergers, and Austrians, who followed Marl- 
borough and Eugene. The French and Bavarians, 
who numbered, like their opponents, some fifty 
thousand men, lay behind a little stream which 
ran through some swampy ground to the Danube. 
The position was a strong one, for its front was 
covered by the swamp, its right by the Danube, 
its left by the hill-country in which the stream 
rose, and Tallard had not only entrenched him- 
self but was far superior to his rival in artillery. 
But for once Marlborouo-h's hands were free. '^ I 
have great reason," he wrote calmly home, "to 
hope that everything will go well, for I have the 
pleasure to find all the officers willing to obey 
without knowing any other reason than that it is 
my desire, which is very different from v/hat it 
was in Flanders, where I was obliged to have the 
consent of a council of war for everything I under- 
took." 

9. So formidable were the obstacles, however, 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 101 

that, though the allies were in motion at sunrise 
on the 2d of August, it was not till midday that 
Eugene, who commanded on the right, succeeded 
in crossing the stream. The English foot at once 
forded it on the left and attacked the village of 
Blenheim, in which the bulk of the French infant- 
ry were intrenched, but after a furious struggle the 
attack was repulsed, while as gallant a resistance 
at the other end of the line held Eugene in check. 
The center, however, which the French believed to 
be unassailable, had been chosen by Marlborough 
for the chief point of attack, and by making an 
artificial road across the morass he was at last en- 
abled to throw his eight thousand horsemen on the 
French horse which lay covered by it. Two des- 
perate charges which the Duke headed in person 
decided the day. The French center was ilung back 
on the Danube and forced to surrender. Their left 
fell back in confusion on Hochstadt ; their right, 
cooped up in Blenheim and cut off from retreat, 
became prisoners of war. 

10. Of the defeated army only twenty thousand 
escaped. Twelve thousand were slain, fourteen 
thousand were captured. Germany was finally 
freed from the French, and Marlborough, who fol- 
lowed the wreck of the French host in its flight 
to Alsace, soon made himself master of the Lower 
Moselle. But the loss of France could not be 



102 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

measured by men or fortresses. A liuudred victo- 
ries since Rocroi had taught the world to regard 
the French army as invincible when Blenheim and 
the surrender of the French soldiery broke the 
spell. From that moment the terror of victory 
passed to the side of the allies^ and "Malbrook" 
became a name of fear to every child in France. 

Green, 
THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM- 

11. It was a summer evening — 

Old Kaspar's work was done, 
And he before his cottage-door 

Was sitting in the sun ; 
And by him sported on the green 
His little grandchild, Wilhelmine. 

12. She saw^ her brother Peterkin 

Roll something large and round, 
Which he beside the rivulet, 

In playing there, had found ; 
He came to ask what he had found, 
That was so large, and smooth, and round. 

13. Old Kaspar took it from the boy. 

Who stood expectant by ; 
And then the old man shook his head, 

And with a natural sigh — 
" 'Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he, 
"Who fell in that great \dctory. 



• STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 103 

14. "I find tliem in the garden, 

For tliere's many hereabout ; 
And often when I go to plow, 

The plowsliare turns them out ; 
For many thousand men," said he, 
'' Were slain in that great victory." 

15. ''Now tell us what 'twas all about," 

Young Peterkin he cries ; 
And little Wilhelmine looks up 

With wonder- waiting eyes — 
" Now tell us all about the war. 
And wdiat they fought each other for." 

16. " It was the English," Kaspar cried, 

'' Who put the French to rout ; 
But what they fought each other for 

I could not well make out ; 
But everybody said," quoth he, 
" That 'twas a famous victory." 

17. "My father lived at Blenheim then. 

Yon little stream hard by ; 
They burned his dwelling to the ground, 

And he was forced to fly ; 
So with his wife and child he fled. 
Nor had he where to rest his head. 

18. ''With Are and sword the country round 

Was wasted far and wide : 



104 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

And many a childing motlier there, 

And new-born baby died ; 
But things like that, you know, must be 
At every famous victory. 

19. ^'They say it was a shocking sight 

After the field was won — 
For many thousand bodies here 

Lay rotting in the sun ; 
But things like that, you know, must be 
After a famous victory. 

20. " Great praise the Duke of Marlborough won. 

And our good Prince Eugene." 
" Why, 'twas a very wicked thing ! ' 

Said little Wilhelmine. 
" Nay, nay, my little girl ! " quoth he, 
" It was a famous victory. 

21. "And everybody praised the Duke 

Who this great light did win." 
" But what good came of it at last ? " 

Quoth little Peterkin. 
" Why, that I can not tell," said he ; 
" But 'twas a famous victory." 

Robert Soutliey. 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 105 

XII. 
A WINTER CAMPAIGN. 

1. Nearly all tlie countries in Europe were 
making war upon France in 1795. The French 
people had set up a republic, and all the king- 
doms round about were trying to make them 
submit to a king again. This had been going 
on for several years, and sometimes it looked 
as though the French would be beaten in spite 
of their brave struggles to keep their enemies 
back and manage their own affairs in their own 
way. 

2. At one time everything went against the 
French. Their armies were worn out with fight- 
ing, their supply of guns had run short, they had 
no powder, and their money matters w^ere in so 
bad a state that it seemed hardly possible for 
France to hold out any longer. In the mean time, 
England, Austria, Spain, Holland, Piedmont, and 
Prussia, besides many of the small German states, 
had joined together to fight France, and their ar- 
mies were on every side of her. 

3. A country in such a state as that, with so 
many powerful enemies on every side, might well 
have given up ; but the French are a brave peo- 
ple, and they were fighting for their liberties. 



106 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

Instead of giving up in des]3air, they set to work 
with all their might to cany on the war. 

4. The first thing to be done was to raise new 
armies, and so they called for men, and the men 
came forward in great numbers from every part 
of the country. In a little while they had more 
men to make soldiers of than had ever before been 
brought together in France. But this was only 
a beginning. The men were not yet trained sol- 
diers, and even if they had been they had no guns 
and no powder ; no clothing was to be had, and 
there was very little food for them to eat. Still 
tlie French did not despair. Knowing that there 
would not be time enough to train the new men, 
they put some of their old soldiers in each regi- 
ment of new ones, so that the new men might learn 
from the veterans how to march and how to light. 

5. In the mean time they had set up armories, 
and were making guns as fast as they could. 
Their greatest trouble was about powder. They 
had chemists who knew how to make it, but they 
had no niter to make it of, and did not know at 
first how to get any. At last one of their chem- 
ists said that there was some niter — from a few 
ounces to a pound or two — in the earth of every 
cellar floor ; and that, if all the niter in all the 
cellar floors of France could be coll ected, it would 
be enough to make plenty of powder. 



STORIES OF CENIRAL EUROPE. 107 

6. But how to get the niter was a question. 
The cellar floors must be dug up, the earth must 
be carefully passed through a course of chemical 
treatment in order to get the niter free from earth 
and from all other things with which it was 
mixed. It would take many days for a chemist 
to extract the niter from the earth of a sino;le eel- 
lar, and then he would get only a j^ound or two of 
it at most. 

7. It did not seem likely that much could be 
done in this way, but all the people were anxious 
to help, and so the cry went up from every part 
>f the country, "Send us chemists to teach us 
iiow and we will do the work and get the niter 
ourselves." This was (piickly done. All the 
chemists were set at work teaching the people how 
to get a little niter out of a great deal of earth, 
and then every family went to work. In a little 
while the niter began to come to the powder fac- 
tories. Each family sent its little parcel of the 
precious salt as a free gift to the country. Some 
of them were so proud and glad of the chance to 
help that they dressed their little packages of 
niter in ribbons of the national colors, and wrote 
patriotic words upon them. Each little parcel 
held only a few ounces, or at most a pound or 
two, of the white salt ; but the parcels came 
in by tens of thousands, and in a few weeks 



108 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

there were hundreds of tons of niter at the pow- 
der-mills. 

' 8. As soon as there was powder enough the 
new armies began to press their enemies, and, 
during the summer and fall of 1794, they stead- 
ily drove them back. When they met the foes 
in battle they always forced them to give way. 
They charged upon forts and took them at the 
point of the bayonet; cities and towns every- 
where fell into their hands, and by the time that 
winter set in they were so used to winning bat- 
tles that nothing seemed too hard for them to un- 
dertake. 

9. But the French soldiers were in a very bad 
condition to stand the cold of winter. One great 
army under General Pichegru, which had driven 
the English and Dutch far into the Netherlands, 
was really almost naked. The shoes of the sol- 
diers were worn out, and so they had to wrap 
their feet in wisps of straw to keep them from 
freezing. Many of the men had not clothing 
enough to cover theii^ nakedness, and, for decency's 
sake, had to plait straw into mats, which they 
wore around their shoulders like blankets. 

10. They had no tents to sleep in, but, nearly 
naked as they were, had to lie down in the snow 
or on the hard frozen ground, and sleep as well as 
they could in the bitter winter weather. There 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. 109 

never was an army more in need of a good rest in 
winter quarters, and, as two great rivers lay in 
front of tliem, it seemed impossible to do any- 
thing more until spring. The English and Dutch 
were already safely housed for the winter, feel- 
ing perfectly sure that the French could not 
cross the rivers or march in any direction until 
the be2:innino; of the next summer. 

11. The French generals, therefore, put their 
men into the best quarters they could get for 
them, and the poor, half -naked, barefooted sol- 
diers were glad to think that their work for that 
year was done. 

12. Day by day the weather grew colder. The 
ground w^as frozen hard, and ice began running in 
the rivers. After a little while the floating ice 
became so thick that the rivers were choked with 
it. When Christmas came, the stream nearest the 
French was frozen over, and three days later the 
ice was so hard that the surface of the river was 
as firm as the solid ground. 

13. Then came an order from General Piche- 
gru to shoulder arms and march. In the bitter- 
est months of that terrible winter the barefooted, 
half-clad French soldiers left their huts, and 
marched asrainst their foes. Crossing^ the first river 
on the ice, they fell upon the surprised Dutch, 
and utterly routed them. About the same time 



STORIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE. m 

they made a dasli at the strong fortified posts 
along the river, and captured them. 

14. The French were now masters of the large 
island that lay between the two rivers, for they 
are really only two branches of one river, and the 
land between them is an island. But the ice in 
the farther stream was not yet hard enough to 
bear the weight of cannon, so Pichegru had to stay 
where he was for a time. Both sides now watched 
the weather, the French hoping for still harder 
frosts, while their enemies prayed for a thaw. 

15. The cold weather continued, and day by 
day the ice became firmer. On the 8th of January, 
1795, Pichegru began to cross, and on the 10th 
his whole army had passed the stream, while his 
enemies were rapidly retreating. He pushed for- 
ward into the country, sending his columns in 
different directions to press the enemy at every 
point. The bare-footed, half-naked French sol- 
diers were full of spirit, and in spite of frost and 
snow and rough frozen roads they marched stead- 
ily and rapidly. 

16. City after city fell before them, and on 
the 20th of January they marched into Amster- 
dam itself, and were complete conquerors. Hun- 
gry and half frozen as they were, it would not 
have been strange if these poor soldiers had 
rushed into the warm houses of the city and 



112 STORIES OF OTHER LAJ^DS 

helped themselves to food and clothing. But they 
did nothing of the kind. They stacked their arms 
in the streets and public squares, and quietly 
waited in the snow, patiently bearing the bitter 
cold of the wind for several hours, while the 
mao^istrates were o;ettini>: houses and food and 
clothing ready for them. 

17. This whole campaign was wonderful,- and 
on almost every day some strange thing happened. 
Pichegru, learning that there was a fleet of the 
enemy's vessels lying at anchor near the island of 
Texel^ sent a column of cavalry, with some can- 
non, in that direction, to see if anything coukl be 
done. The cavalry found the Zuyder Zee hard 
frozen, and the ships firmly locked in the ice. So 
they put spurs to their horses, galloped over the 
frozen surface of the sea, marched up to the ships 
and called on them to surrender. It was a nev/ 
thing in war for ships to be charged by men on 
horseback; but there the horsemen were, with 
strong ice under them, and the ships could not sail 
away from them. The sailors could make a fight, 
of course, but the cavalry, with their cannon, were 
too strong for them, and so they surrendered 
without a battle, and for the first time in history 
a body of hussars captured a squadron of ships at 
anchor. 

G. C. Eggleston. 



STORIES OF BRITAIN. 



XIII. 
CHARLES AND OLIVER. 

1. Not long after King James I took the place 
of Queen Elizabetli on the throne of England, 
there lived an English knight at a place called 
Hinchin brook. His name was Sir Olivier Crom- 
well. He spent his life, I suppose, pretty much 
like other English knights and squires in those 
days, hunting hares and foxes, and drinking large 
quantities of ale and wine. The old house in 
which he dwelt had been occupied by his ances- 
tors before him for a good many years. In it 
there was a OTeat hall huno; round with coats of 
arms and helmets, cuirasses and swords, which his 
forefathers had used in battle, and with horns of 
deer and tails of foxes which they or Sir Oliver 
himself had killed in the chase, 

2. This Sir Oliver Cromwell had a nephew 
who had been called Oliver, after himself, but who 
was generally known in the family by the name 



114 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

of little Noll. His fatlier was a voung;er brother 
of Sir Oliver. Tlie child was of teu sent to visit 
his uncle, who probably found him a trouble- 
some little fellow to take care of. He was forever 
in mischief, and always running into some danger 
or other, from which he seemed to escape only by 
miracle. 

3. One morning, when Noll was five or six 
years old, a royal messenger arrived at Hinchin- 
brook with tidings that King James was coming 
to dine with Sir Oliver Cromwell. This was a 
high honor, to be sure, but a very great trouble ; 
for all the lords and ladies, knights, squires, guards 
and yeomen who waited on the king, were to be 
feasted as well as himself ; and more provisions 
would be eaten and more wine drunk in that one 
day than generally in a month. However, Sir 
Oliver expressed much thankfulness for the king's 
intended visit, and ordered his butler and cook to 
make the best preparations in their power. So a 
great fire was kindled in the kitchen ; and the 
neighbors knew, by the smoke which poured out 
of the chimney, that boiling, baking, stewing, roast- 
ing, and frying, were going on merrily. 

4. By-and-by the sound of trumpets was heard 
approaching nearer and nearer ; a heavy, old-fash- 
ioned coach, surrounded by guards on horseback, 
drove up to the house.' Sir Oliver, with his hat 



STORIES OF BRITAIN. 115 

in Ms hand, stood at the gate to receive the king. 
His Majesty was dressed in a suit of green, not 
very new ; he had a feather in his hat and a triple 
ruff round his neck, and over his shoulder was 
sluno; a huntino;-horn instead of a sword. Alto- 
gether he had not the most dignified aspect in the 
world ; but the spectators gazed at him as if there 
were something superhuman and divine in his 
person. They even shaded their eyes with their 
hands, as if they were dazzled by the glory of his 
countenance. 

5. " How are ye, man ? " cried King James, speak- 
ing in a Scotch accent ; for Scotland was his na- 
tive country. "By my crown, Sir Oliver, but I 
am glad to see ye ! " 

6. The good knight thanked the king, at the 
same time kneeling down while his Majesty 
alighted. When King James stood on the ground 
he directed Sir Oliver's attention to a little boy 
who had come with him in the coach. He was 
six or seven years old, and wore a hat and feather, 
and was more richly dressed than the king him- 
self. Though by no means an ill-looking child, 
he seemed shy or even sulky, and his cheeks were 
rather pale, as if he had been kept moping within- 
doors, instead of being sent out to play in the sun 
and wind. 

7. " I have brought my son Charlie to see ye/' 



116 STORIES OF OTHER LAJ^BS 

said the king ; ^' I hope, Sir Oliver, ye have a son 
of your own to be his playmate." Sir Oliver 
Cromwell made a reverential bow to the little 
prince, whom one of the attendants had now taken 
out of the coach. It was wonderful to see how 
all the spectators, even the aged men with their 
gray beards, humbled themselves before this 
child. They bent their bodies till their beards 
almost swept the dust. They looked as if they 
were ready to kneel down and worship him. 

8. " What a noble little prince he is ! " ex- 
claimed Sir Oliver, lifting his hands in admiration, 
" No, please your Majesty, I have no son to be the 
playmate of his Royal Highness ; but there is a 
nephew of mine somewhere about the house. He 
is near the prince's age, and will be but too happy 
to wait upon his royal highness." 

9. " Send for him, man ! send for him ! " said 
the king. But as it happened there ^v^as no need 
of sending for Master Noll. While King James 
was speaking, a rugged, bold-faced, sturdy little 
urchin thrust himself through the throng of court- 
iers and attendants and greeted the prince with a 
broad stare. His doublet and hose, which had 
been put on new and clean in honor of the king's 
visit, were already soiled and torn with the rough 
play in which he had spent the morning. He 
looked no more abashed than if Kino^ James were 



STORIES OF BRITAIN. 117 

Ms uncle, and the piince one of his customary play- 
fellows. This was little Noli himself. 

10. " Here, please your Majesty, is my nejDh- 
ew," said Sir Oliver, somewhat ashamed of Noll's 
appearance and demeanor. — " Olivei*, make your 
obeisance to the king's majesty." The boy made 
a pretty respectful obeisance to the king; for 
in those days children were taught to pay rev- 
erence to their elders. King James, who prided 
himself greatly on his scholarship, asked Noll a 
few questions in the Latin grammar, and then 
introduced him to his son. The little prince, in 
a very grave and dignified manner, extended his 
hand, not for Noll to shake, but that he might 
kneel down and kiss it. 

1 J . " Nephew," said Sir Oliver, " pay your 
duty to the prince." " I owe him no duty," cried 
Noll, thrusting aside the prince's hand with a rude 
laugh. '' Why should I kiss that boy's hand ? " All 
the courtiers were amazed and confounded, and Sir 
Oliver the most of all. But the king laughed heart- 
ily, sa}ang that little Noll had a stubborn English 
spirit, and that it was well for his son to learn be- 
times what sort of a*people he was to rule over. 

12. So King James and his train entered the 
house ; and the prince with Noll and some other 
children were sent to play in a separate room 
while his Majesty was at dinner. The young 



118 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

people soon became acquainted ; for boys, wbetlier 
tlie sons of monarchs or of peasants, all like play, 
and are pleased with one another's society. What 
games they diverted themselves with I can not 
tell. Perhaps they played at ball, perhaps at 
blind-man's-buff, perhaps at leap-frog, perhaps at 
prison-bars. Such games have been in use for 
hundreds of years ; and princes as well as poor 
children have spent some of their happiest hours 
in playing at them. 

18. Meanwhile King James and his nobles 
were feasting with Sir Oliver in the great hall. 
The king sat in a gilded chair, under a canopy, at 
the head of a long table. All of a sudden there 
arose a terrible uproar in the room where the chil- 
dren were at play. Angry shouts and shrill cries 
of alarm were mixed up together ; while the voices 
of elder persons were likewise heard, trying to re- 
store order among the children. The king and 
everybody else at table looked aghast; for per- 
haps the tumult made them think that a general 
rebellion had broken out. ^' Mercy on us ! " ut- 
tered Sir Oliver ; " that graceless nephew of mine 
is in some mischief or other. The naughty little 
whelp ! " Getting up from table, he ran to see 
what was the matter, followed by many of the 
guests, and the king among them. They all crowd- 
ed to the door of the play-room. 




There stood his siunly little figure, hold as a lion:' 



120 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

14. On looking in they beheld the little Prince 
Charles, with his rich dress all torn, and covered 
v^ ith the dust of the floor. His royal blood was 
streaming from his nose in great abundance. He 
gazed at Noll with a mixture of rage and aifright, 
and at the same time a puzzled expression, as if 
he could not understand how any mortal boy 
should dare to give him a beating. As for Noll, 
there stood his sturdy little figure, bold as a lion, 
looking as if he were ready to fight, not only the 
prince, but the king and kingdom too, 

15. ^' You little villain!" cried his uncle, 
" what have you been about ? Down on your 
knees this instant, and ask the prince's pardon ! 
How dare you lay your hand on the king's majes- 
ty's royal son ? " '' He struck me first," grumbled 
the valiant little Noll ; " and I have only given 
him his due." 

16. Sir Oliver and the guests lifted up their 
hands in astonishment and horror. No punish- 
ment seemed severe enough for this wicked little 
varlet, who had dared to resent a blow from the 
king's own son. Some of the courtiers were of 
opinion that Noll should be sent prisoner to the 
Tower of London and brouo-ht to trial for hio^h 
treason. Others, in their great zeal for the king's 
service, were about to lay hands on the boy and 
chastise him in the royal presence. 



STORIES OF BRITAIN. 121 

17. But King James, who sometimes showed 
a good deal of sagacity, ordered them to desist. 
'^ Thou art a boki boy," said he, looking fixedly at 
little Noll ; " and if thou live to be a man, my son 
Charlie would do wisely to be friends with thee." 
" I never will ! " cried the little prince, stamping 
his foot. 

18. ''Peace, Charlie, peace!" said the king; 
then addressing Sir Oliver and the attendants : 
" Harm not the urchin ; for he has taught my son 
a good lesson, if Heaven do but give him grace to 
profit by it. Hereafter, should he be tempted to 
tyrannize over the stubborn race of Englishmen, 
let him remember little Noll Cromwell and his 
own bloody nose." So the king finished his din- 
ner and departed ; and for many a long year the 
childish quarrel between Prince Charles and Noll 
Cromwell was forgotten. The prince, indeed, 
might have lived a happier life, and have met a 
more peaceful death, had he remembered that 
quarrel and the moral which his father drew from 
it. But when old King James was dead, and 
Charles sat upon his throne, he seemed to forget 
that he was but a man, and that his meanest sub- 
jects were men as well as he. He wished to have 
the property and lives of the people of England 
entirely at his own disposal. But the Puritans, 
and all who loved libertv, rose against him and 



122 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

beat him in many battles, and pulled him down 
from his throne. 

19. Throughout this war between the king and 
nobles on one side and the people of England on 
the other there was a famous leader, who did more 
toward the ruin of royal authority than all the rest. 
The contest seemed like a wrestling-match between 
Kino: Charles and this strong; man. And the kins: 
was overthrown. 

20. When the discrowned monarch was brous^ht 
to trial, that warlike leader sat in the judgment- 
halL Many judges were present besides himself ; 
but he alone had the power to save King Charles 
or to doom him to the scaffold. After sentence 
was pronounced, this victorious general was en- 
treated by his own children, on their knees, to res- 
cue his Majesty from death. " IN o !'' said he, stern- 
ly ; " better that one man should perish than that 
the whole country should be ruined for his sake. 
It is resolved that he shall die ! " 

21. When Charles, no longer a king, was led 
to the scaffold, his great enemy stood at a window 
of the royal palace of Whitehall. He beheld the 
poor victim of pride, and an evil education, and 
misused power, as he laid his head upon the block. 
He looked on with a steadfast gaze while a black- 
veiled executioner lifted the fatal axe and smote 
off that anointed head at a single blow. " It is a 



STORIES OF BRITAIN, 123 

righteous deed," perhaps he said to himself. "Now 
Englishmen may enjoy their rights." 

22. At night, when the body of Charles was 
laid in the coffin, in a gloomy chamber, the gen- 
eral entered, lio^htino; himself with a torch. Its 
gleam showed that he was now growing old ; his 
visage was scarred with the many battles in which 
he had led the van ; his brow was wrinkled with 
care, and with the continual exercise of stern au- 
thority. Probably there was not a single trait, 
either of aspect or manner, that belonged to the 
little Noll who had battled so stoutly with Prince 
Charles. Yet this was he ! 

23. He lifted the coffin-lid, and caused the light 
of his torch to fall upon the dead monarch's face. 
Then, probably, his mind went back over all the 
marvelous events that had brought the hereditary 
King of England to this dishonored coffin, and had 
raised himself, an humble individual, to the pos- 
session of kingly power. He was a king, though 
without the empty title or the glittering crown. 

24. " Why was it ? " said Cromwell to himself, 
or might have said, as he gazed at the pale features 
in the coffin — " why was it that this great king 
fell, and that poor Noll Cromwell has gained all 
the power of the realm?" And, indeed, why 
was it ? 

25. King Charles had fallen, because, in his 



124 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

manliood, the same as when a child, he disdained 
to feel that every human creature was his brother. 
He deemed himself a superior being, and fancied 
that his subjects were created only for a king to 
rule over. And Cromwell rose, because, in spite 
of his many faults, he mainly fought for the rights 
and freedom of his fellow-men ; and therefore the 
poor and the oppressed all lent their strength to 
him. 

Hawthorne. 



XIV. 

SIR JOHN MOORE. 

1. Sir John Moore was one of the most distin- 
guished officers of the British army that took part 
in the wars that o^rew out of the French Eevolution 
and of the reign of Napoleon. He was born in Glas- 
gow, in 1761, and after serving faithfully through 
campaigns in Corsica, in the West Indies, in Hol- 
land, in Sweden, and in Egypt, he was knighted 
and promoted to the position of major-general. 

2. In 1808, when Napoleon dethroned the Sj^an- 
ish princes and placed his brother Joseph upon the 
throne of Spain, the British Government sent an 
expedition of twenty-five thousand men, under 
Sir John Moore, to assist the Spaniards in their 



STORIES OF BRITAIN. 125 

struo'ofle asrainst the Frencho He landed at Lisbon 
and inarclied tlirougli Portugal to Spain. For a 
time tlie Spaniards were successful, and Joseph 
was driven over the border into France. This 
reverse aroused Napoleon, and he led an army 
of three hundred thousand men personally into 
Spain. 

3. The Spanish armies were defeated, and the 
whole peninsula was soon overrun. In this emer= 
gency Sir John Moore found himself without allies, 
surrounded by victorious enemies, and several hun- 
dred miles from any seaport where he could em- 
bark his army. Choosing Corunna as his objective 
point, he commenced a retreat which has no parah 
lei in history save the retreat of the ten thousand 
Greeks under Xenophon. His little army consist- 
ed of about twenty thousand men. Napoleon, at 
the head of one hundred and seventy-five thousand 
Frenchmen, was using his almost superhuman pow- 
ers of strategy and action to cut him off. From 
the first of November to the middle of January the 
retreat continued. Now facing the overwhelming 
numbers of the enemy, now racing for life to se- 
cure some pass in the mountains or to anticipate 
a flank movement, the little army at last came in 
sight of the port of embarkation. The fleet lay in 
the harbor, and the French generals could see the 
Cross of St. George waving defiance in perfect se- 



126 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

curity. Nelson liad broken the naval power of 
France, and Britain dominated the seas. Napo- 
leon's power ceased with the tide. 

4. On the morning of the 16th of January Mar- 
shal Soult, the French commander, pressed forward 
and attacked the English along their whole lines ; 
but so skillful had been the dispositions of troops 
by Sir John Moore, that each attack was easily re- 
pulsed with great loss to the enemy, and sufficient 
time was gained for the embarkation of the army 
without molestation. 

5. Near the close of the engagement Sir John 
was struck by a cannon-ball, which inflicted a mor- 
tal wound, but he lived long enough to know that 
the English were everywhere victorious^ and that 
his masterly management had secured the safety 
of the army. 

6. In the history of the Peninsular War, Na- 
pier thus sums up his character : " Thus ended the 
career of Sir John Moore, a man whose uncommon 
capacity was sustained by the purest virtue, and 
governed by a disinterested patriotism, more in 
keeping with the primitive than with the luxuri- 
ous age of a great nation. His tall, graceful per- 
son, his dark, searching eyes, his strongly defined 
forehead, and singularly expressive mouth, indi- 
cated a noble disposition and a refined feeling, 
while the lofty sentiments of honor habitual to his 



STORIES OF BRITAIN, 127 

mind, being adorned by a playful mt, gave liim 
in conversation an ascendency that lie always pre- 
served by the decisive vigor of his actions. 

7. " He maintained the right with a vehemenc^ 
bordering on fierceness, and every important trans- 
action in which he was engaged increased his repu- 
tation for talent, and confirmed his character as a 
stern enemy to vice, a steadfast friend to merit, a 
Just and faithful servant to his country. The hon- 
est loved him, the dishonest feared him ; for, while 
he lived he not only shunned but spurned the base, 
and with characteristic propriety they spurned at 
him when he was dead. 

8. " Confiding in the strength of his genius, 
he disregarded the clamors of presumptuous igno- 
rance, and conducted his long and arduous retreat 
with sagacity, intelligence, and fortitude ; no in- 
sult disturbed, no falsehood deceived him ; no 
remonstrance shook his determination ; fortune 
frowned without subduing his constancy; death 
struck, but the spirit of the man remained un- 
broken when !iis shattered body scarcely afforded 
it a habitation." 

9. The beautiful lines of the Rev. Charles 
Wolfe, on the ^^ Burial of Sir John Moore," is a 
fitting tribute to his memory : 



128 



STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 



BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. 

10. Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 

As his corse to the rampart we hurried ; 
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero was buried. 

11. We buried him darkly, at dead of night, 

The sods with our bayonets turning ; 
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 
And the lantern dimly burning. 




''^^ - ^-- 



12. No useless coffin inclosed his breast, 

Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him ; 
But he lay, like a warrior taking his rest, 
With his martial cloak around him. 



STORIES OF BBITAIK 129 

18. Few and sliort were tlie 23rayers we said, 
And we spoke not a word of sorro^v ; 
But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead, 
And we bitterly thought of the morrow. 

14. We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, 

And smoothed down his lonely pillow, 
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er 
his head,v^ 
And we far away on the billow. 

15. Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, 

And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him ; 
But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on. 
In the grave where a Briton has laid him ! 

16. But half of our heavy work was done. 

When the ^lock struck the hour for retirins;, 
And we heard the distant and random gun 
That the foe was sullenly firing. 

17. Slowly and sadly we laid him down. 

From the i5eld of his fame fresh and gory ! 
We carved not a line, we raised not a stone, 
But we left him alone in his glory. 

Charles Wolfe. 



STORIES OF AETISTS. 



XV. 
MICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI. 

1. On March 6, 1474, at Caprese or Chiiisi, 
in Tuscany, was born the child who was afterward 
to become so renowned. Michael Angelo was 
noble by birth ; his father was descended from 
the Counts of Canossa. Probably his w^ealth did 
not equal his patrician ancestry, for the proud no- 
bleman sent his son to a grammar-school at Flor- 
ence. A public school is no unusual place for gen- 
ius to develop itself, and here it was that Michael 
Angelo's soon shone forth. His facility in sketch- 
ing — a talent alw^ays appreciated by school-boys — 
made him popular among his young companions ; 
they encouraged him, and their praises fostered 
the love of art in his bosom. This j)assion for 
drawing, however, was pursued in secret ; for his 
father used all his efforts to discourage the boy, 
thinking, poor man ! in his foolish pride, that it 
would disgrace the noble house of Canossa to pro- 




Michael Angela. 



132 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

duce an artist ! He did not know that, but for 
that great artist, his ancient house ivould have been 
forgotten; and that now Michael Angelo is re- 
membered for his genius, not for his nobility. 

2. The first story of the boy's progress in art is 
told of him in his thirteenth year. He borrowed 
a picture from a friend, and copied it with such 
exactitude that it could hardly be distinguished 
from the original. A plan for a boyish deception 
came into his head ; he confided the secret to one 
of his playfellows, and the two boys, with grave 
faces and many thanks, brought to the lender, not 
his own picture, but Michael's copy. He, worthy 
soul, did not discover the cheat put upon him, and 
was restoring with perfect composure the fac- 
simile to the place of the original, when Michael's 
playfellow could resist his mirth no longer, and 
his irrepressible laughter revealed the jest. The 
story became known ; his undoubted success en- 
couraged the boy, and, to his father's horror, he 
declared his resolution to be an artist. 

3. Most likely the incident of the borrow^ed 
picture influenced 'greatly Michael's future life; 
for in his fourteenth year we find him a pupil 
of Domenico Ghirlandaio, one of the best paint- 
ers of the day, who had studied under Giotto. 
Doubtless it was only after many struggles with 
his prejudiced father that Michael Angelo ob- 



STOEIES OF ARTISTS. 133 

tallied this favor ; but, when gained, he profited 
by it in proportion to the difficulty with which 
he had secured it. When fifteen, he one day saw 
a figure on his master's easel drawn in a style 
which he considered far from perfect. He made 
outlines of the incorrect portions of the dramng 
on its margin. These outlines were far superior 
to the picture itself, and his own consciousness of 
this, and a mean Jealousy unworthy of the noble 
art he followed, made Ghirlandaio ever after strive 
to depress and injure the bold and talented boy 
who had dared thus openly to compete with his 
master. 

4. Michael Angelo remained with Ghirlandaio 
only three years, during which time his improve- 
ment was owing to his own exertions, and not to 
his jealous master, who scarcely ever condescended 
to give him the least instruction. But persever- 
ance often fully atones for the want of imparted 
knowledge ; and so it was with Michael. Before 
he left the studio of Ghirlandaio, he had availed 
himself of permission given to the pupils of that 
painter, by Lorenzo de' Medici, to study in an 
academy which that wise and generous nobleman 
had instituted for the advancement of sculpture. 
Here Michael still continued to improve himself, 
and attracted the attention of Lorenzo the Mag- 
nificent by his beautiful drawings. The academy 



134 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

was held, like those of ancient Athens, in a garden. 
This garden Lorenzo supplied with beautiful 
sculpture, chiefly ancient — for the moderns were 
very far from perfection until Da Vinci's time — 
and hither the good nobleman often walked among 
the objects of his taste and delight, supplied by 
his own munificent hand, or amused himself in 
watching the progress of the young artists whom 
he had invited to study in his grounds. 

5, In this garden of art the young Michael 
Angelo one day saw a fellow-student modeling in 
clay — a branch of art then very uncommon. He 
felt a wish to do the same, and attempted an imi- 
tation, which Lorenzo, who happened to pass by, 
praised with such warmth that the young artist 
determined to try his skill in marble. He begged 
a piece of broken marble and a tool from some 
workmen who were employed in ornamenting 
the palace, and cheerfully and eagerly set to work. 
He chose as his model a mask of a " Laughing 
Faun," which was lying in the garden, much mu- 
tilated by time. But Michael remedied all these 
defects in his copy, and likewise added some im- 
provements from his OAvn powers of invention. 
The mask was nearly finished, when a few days 
after Lorenzo again visited his garden. 

6. "This is wonderful in a youth like you," 
cried the delisrhted nobleman. He examined the 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 135 

work, compared it with the original, and praised 
the several additions which Michael's genius had 
prompted. 

7. " But," said this acute patron and lover of 
art, with a good-humored smile, "there is one 
thing I do not quite approve, though it is but a 
slight fault in so good a work — you have restored 
all the old man's teeth ; whereas, you know, a 
person of that age has generally some wanting." 

8. The young man acquiesced in this sensi- 
ble remark ; and, when Lorenzo had departed, he 
broke a tooth from the upper jaw of the mask, 
and drilled a hole in the gum to show that it had 
decayed and fallen out in course of nature. On 
Lorenzo's next visit he was so delighted with the 
ingenious way in which Michael Angelo had fol- 
lowed up his patron's hint that he gave the 
young artist an apartment in his house, made 
him a guest at his table, introduced him to the 
noble, wealthy, and learned that thronged the pal- 
ace of the greatest of the Medici, and, in shorty 
adopted him as his own son. 

9. When only seventeen, Michael Angelo exe- 
cuted for Lorenzo a basso-rilievo in bronze; the 
subject was the " Battle of Centaurs." When 
very old, the great painter once came to see this 
work of his early youth, and was heard to say 
that he regretted that he had not entirely devoted 



136 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

liimself to sculpture. His next work was a 
" Sleeping Cupid." The wdse of that age thought 
it impossible for modern art to produce anything 
equal to the antique ; and they were not far 
wrong, for Michael Angelo had not then arisen ; 
so the dealer who purchased his Cupid had the 
cunning adroitness to stain it in imitation of the de- 
facements of time, and bury it in a vineyard. He 
afterward pretended to discover it by accident, 
and sold it as an antique statue to Cardinal San 
Giorgio. The praise it obtained induced him to 
reveal the secret ; the deceived public generously 
forgave the trick, and the artist w^s invited to 
Rome, where Pope Julius II commissioned him to 
erect a mausoleum. Michael's design was mag- 
niiicent. When he showed it to the Pope, his 
Holiness inquired the cost of such a splendid work. 
Michael answered that it would amount to a hun- 
dred thousand crowns ; and the Pope liberally 
gave him permission to expend twice that sum. 

10. The mausoleum was commenced. Pope Ju- 
lius was so delighted with it, that he had a covered 
way from his palace erected, that he might visit 
the artist at his work incognito. This was too 
great a favor not to excite the envy of a court. 
Ill words and unkind slanders wei'e spoken of Mi- 
chael. They reached the Pope^s ear, as it was in= 
tended, and he visited Buonarotti no more. Mi- 



STORIES OF ARTISTS 137 

chael came to the Vatican, wliicli had been at all 
times open to him ; but it was not so now. A 
groom of the chamber stopped his entrance. " Do 
you know to whom you speak ? " asked the indig- 
nant 2^ainter. ''Perfectly well," said the man; 
" and I only do my duty in obeying the orders 
my master has given." " Then tell the Pope," re- 
plied Michael, " if he wants me, he may come and 
seek me elsewhere himself." 

11. The insulted artist returned immediately 
to his house, ordered his servants to sell his furni- 
ture, and follow him to Florence ; and left Rome 
that very night. Great was the Pope's consterna- 
tion. Couriers were immediately sent after Mi- 
chael. Bat it was too late ; he had already passed 
the boundary of the Po2:)e's jurisdiction, and force 
was of no avail. The couriers reached Florence, 
and delivered the Pope's letter. Michael's answer 
was this : " I have been expelled from the ante- 
chaml3er of your Holiness without meriting dis- 
grace ; therefore I have left Home to preserve my 
reputation. I will not return, as your Holiness 
commands. If I have been deemed worthless one 
day, how can I be valued the next, except by a 
caprice alike discreditable to the one who shows 
it, and the one toward whom it is shown?" 

12. Julius next wrote to the government of 
Florence, using these conciliatory words : '' We 



138 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

know tlie humor of men like Michael Angelo. If 
he will return, we promise that none shall offend 
him or interfere with him, and he shlall be rein- 
stated in our apostolic grace." But Michael was 
inflexible. Again and again the Pope wrote, and 
still this proud and high-spirited man refused to 
heed him. At last the chief mao-istrate of Flor- 
ence became alarmed. He sent for the artist, and 
said : '' You have treated the Pope as the King of 
France himself would not have dared. We can 
not bring him to war against the state on your 
account ; therefore yon must obey his will," The 
magistrate ]^romised also, if Michael feared for his 
personal safety, to send him as embassador to 
Eome, in which case his person would be invio- 
lable. At last Michael relented and met the Pope 
at Bologna. Julius glanced at him with displeas- 
ure, and did not for some time deign to speak. 
At last he said, " Instead of your coming to us, 
yon seem to have expected that we should wait 
upon you," 

13. Michael answered with a slight apology 
for his conduct, which, however, was so haughtily 
expressed that a prelate, who had introduced him, 
thought it necessary to observe, " One must needs 
make allowance for such men, who are ig^norant 
of everything except their art." 

14. Wise and generous, too, was the Pope's 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 139 

indignant reply to this speech. He turned to the 
prelate : ^' Foolish man, it is thou who hast vili- 
fied Michael Angelo ; I have not. He is a man of 
genius, and thou art an ignorant fellow. Depart 
from my sight this moment ! " And the contemner 
of art was forcibly driven from the room. 

15. His next great work was when the Sistine 
Chapel was built. This chapel Michael was to 
adorn with fresco-paintings. His first attempt 
showed how universal were his powers of mind. 
He began to paint the ceiling ; but the only scaf- 
folding which the architect, Bramante, could con- 
trive was suspended by ropes passed through holes 
in the roof. Michael Angelo asked how he was to 
paint a ceiling thus pierced with holes. Bramante 
could arrange no other plan; and Buonarotti in- 
vented some machinery, so complete that the car- 
penter who made it under his direction realized a 
large fortune, through Michael's generosity in al- 
lowing him to profit by the invention. In twenty 
months the frescoes were completed, to the de- 
lighted wonder of his friends and the envy of his 
enemies ; all being the work of Michael Angelo's 
own hand, unassisted by any one. The Pope had 
almost daily climbed to the top of the platform to 
watch the artist's progress; and by his persua- 
sions Michael took down the scaffolding almost 
before the frescoes were finished. Crowds of the 



140 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

learned rushed to the building to see this wonder- 
ful work. 

16. But when the Pope had gratified his im- 
patience by viewing the painted ceiling from be- 
low, he began to wish for more ornaments on the 
drapery of some figures, more gilding and show. 
But Michael's reproof was not long wanting. " I 
have painted," said he, ^' men who were poor, nor 
wished for riches — holy men, to whom gold was 
an object of contempt. I will add nothing." 

17. The Sistine Chapel was publicly opened 
on All-Saints' day, 1512. From that time to the 
present, Michael Angelo's frescoes have been ac- 
knowledged the most glorious triumph of art in 
any age. They consist of a series of colossal paint- 
ings, descriptive of the progress of the Christian 
religion from the creation of the world until the 
last judgment of all men. To particularize them 
is impossible ; and their praise has been a universal 
theme. Most of them are painted on the arched 
ceiling ; and it is said that many figures were exe- 
cuted by the artist lying on his back on a heap of 
cushions, this being the only position in which he 
could reach them. 

18. At the age of seventy -two he was nomi- 
nated architect of St. Peter's. This undertaking 
had been begun nearly a hundred years before ; 
but little progress had been made, and every new 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 141 

architect proposed a new design. Michael de- 
sio-ned the dome, and had the satisfaction before 
his death of seeing it nearly completed. His plans 
for the other parts of the building were unhappily 
departed from in many things after his death. 
While laboring at this work, the artist had to con- 
tend with the poverty and illiberality of his pa- 
trons ; and once they endeavored to displace him. 
He had, in their opinions, not given light enough 
to the church in one portion of it. 

" Three more windows will be placed there," 
said Michael Angelo. 

" You never told us of that before," replied a 
cardinal. 

"Nor will I be accountable to you for declar- 
ing all that I do, or intend to do ! " cried the high- 
spirited painter. " It is yours to provide money, 
and keep oif thieves : to build St. Peter's is mine !" 

19. Michael Ano^elo's countenance was like his 
mind — full of noble grandeur. Straight, Greek feat- 
ures, a high and rather projecting forehead, with 
clustering hair and beard, give his portrait a char- 
acter of sublimity which is like his works. These 
works were the grandest in conception and execu- 
tion that mortal man could do — not beautiful, but 
sublime. It is often a reproach to a great man 
that his life is far inferior to his works ; but Mi- 
chael Angelo was in every way a noble and good 



142 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

man, not winning, bnt austere in his virtue and 
simplicity of character at an age when the con- 
trary was most in fashion. He was never mar- 
ried, and used to say that his works were his chil- 
dren, who must bear his name to posterity. In 
his old age he was found one day by Cardinal Sar- 
nite walking alone in the ruins of the Coliseum. 
The cardinal expressed surprise. "I go yet to 
school," said Michael, ^'that I may continue to 
learn." 

Chambers^s Miscellany. 



XVI. 
RAFFAELLE. 



1. In 1483 there lived in the little city of 
Urbino, in Italy, a poor artist named Giovanni 
Sanzio. He had little genius to boast of, and less 
fame. He lived in a quiet, humble way, not far 
removed from poverty, yet he was a good man, 
and his humility and simplicity of character pre- 
vented his being despised for want of talent. He 
married a worthy and loving wife, and for a long 
time they were childless. At length, on Good- 
Friday of 1485, a son was born unto them, whom 
they christened Raffaelle, after the angel Eaphael, 
of the Bible — a name of sfood omen : but little did 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 143 

the parents think that the name thus given would 
go down to posterity as Raffaelle the Divine. 

2. His father had suffered so much in his youth 
from being left to brave the world alone, that 
he would not part with his son even to a nurse. 
Raffaelle vvas brought up at his parents' house — his 
mother being his constant nurse, his father his in- 
structor. He was never sent to school, but spent 
his time in his father's studio, living among the 
beautiful forms, having for his playthings brushes 
and easels, thus familiarizing him with the tools 
of art from his very cradle. No other children 
came to divide with him his parents' care and af- 
fection, and life was all sunshine to the gentle and 
beautiful child. Even in manhood his portrait, 
with his soft, mild eyes, and long, flowing hair, is 
like the face of one of his own angels. In youth, 
his beauty is said to have attracted the attention 
of every beholder. 

3. Surrounded by art, it is not wonderful that 
Raifaelle should have been a painter when a mere 
boy. His father was delighted to see this bent, and 
instructed him to the utmost of his power, and 
Raffaelle was soon of great assistance to him in pict- 
ures which he sold to his few patrons in Urbino. 
But the father soon recognized the great genius of 
his son, and he went to Perugia, where lived Pietro 
Perugino, one of the great painters of the day. 

10 



144 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

Pietro, however, had gone to Eome, and Sanzio 
had to wait a long time for his return. At last 
Pietro arrived, and the humble painter of Urbino 
obtained an interview wdth his higher brother in 
art. Sanzio had a winning manner, and Pietro 
readily consented to take little Raifaelle as a pupil. 

4. Giovanni returned home, having accom- 
plished his object. One can w^ell imagine what a 
hard struggle it was for the father to place his boy 
in other hands, and how many tears the mother 
shed at parting from her only child. Giovanni 
took his son to Perugia, left him in the care of 
Pietro, who had conceived a sincere friendship for 
the father of his new pupil, and then returned to 
his lonely home in Urbino. 

5. Raffaelle had an excellent master in Peru- 
gino, as far as kindness went ; from his instruc- 
tions, how^ever, he did not profit much. Perugino's 
style was hard and formal ; now and then his atti- 
tudes were graceful, but his works, though praised 
in his day, were very inferior compared to those 
of his successors, and his one great contemporary, 
Leonardo da Vinci. Raffaelle copied his master's 
style so exactly that his pictures, at that period 
of his life, can not be distinguished from those of 
Perugino's. Having never known a highei* style, 
the young artist went on in this beaten track, win- 
ning much praise from the inhabitants of his na- 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 145 

tive city and of Perugia. But a change was soon 
to come over the spirit of Raffaelle the Divine. 

6. He had a friend and fellow-pupil who had 
been chosen to ornament the Pope's library at 
Siena. This young man invited Raffaelle to join 
him, and the latter assented, as he had now left 
Perugino, though the friendship between master 
and pupil continued undiminished until the death 
of the former. Raffaelle was only eighteen when 
he arrived at Siena ; there he and his friend painted 
ten large pictures, the subjects being taken from 
the life of Pope Pius II. While at Siena, Raff aelle 
heard of the wonderful works of Leonardo da Vinci 
and Michael Angelo, then on exhibition at Flor- 
ence. He resolved to go thither, and judge for 
himself of their perfection. Great, indeed, were 
his delight and wonder when he beheld these 
masterpieces of genius. 

7. Leonardo's particularly attracted him, for 
Michael Angelo had not then arrived at the zenith 
of his power ; and the inclination of Raffaelle was 
more to the beautiful than to the severe and grand. 
He saw that he was yet on the threshold of art ; 
and he felt his own w^eakness, and the defects 
of his master so vividly, that from that hour he 
changed his style and followed Perugino no more. 

8. His delight in these pictures which Flor- 
ence contained, and his likino; for the beautiful 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 147 

city, determined RaJffaelle to remain there for some 
time. He formed many fi^iendships with young 
artists there. His greatest friend was Lorenzo 
Nati, for whom he painted a beautiful picture 
of the " Holy Family." The virgin mother holds 
the infant Jesus in her arms, to w^iom the infant 
St. John is presenting a bird in childish delight. 
This painting was preserved by Lorenzo during 
his lifetime with affectionate care and veneration. 
After his death it was kept for a long time by his 
heirs. But a disaster took place : a falling of earth 
from a neiochborins^ mountain laid the house in 
ruins, and the " Holy Family " was buried beneath 
the rubbish. The son of Lorenzo, however, rescued 
the fragments, and carefully restored them. The 
picture still exists. 

9. Raffaelle's stay at Florence was sorrowfully 
terminated. He had news of the illness of his 
aged parents ; he went to Urbino, but both were 
no more. They had lived to see only the dawn- 
ing of their son's glory, which was enough for 
their unseliish affection. Raifaelle gathered to- 
gether all their worldly goods which they had 
left him and quitted his native place forever. He 
stayed some time at Perugia, where he painted a 
picture for a chapel, and another for a monastery. 
One of these he left to be finished by his old mas- 
ter, Perugino, and returned to Florence in 1505. 



148 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

There he studied his beloved art Avith patience 
and enthusiasm combined, by means of which his 
reputation increased yearly. 

10. At this time Bramante d' Urbino, a fellow- 
citizen and distant relative of Raffaelle's, w^as in 
high favor with Pope Julius II, and was engaged 
as architect of St. Peter's. He invited his young 
kinsman to Rome, where Julius received him with 
great kindness, and appointed him one of the art- 
ists who were employed in painting the Vatican. 
Raffaelle surpassed his competitors so much, that 
the Pope immediately ordered all the other pict- 
tures to be effaced, and the work to be intrusted 
to Raft'aelle alone ; and here the generous and 
grateful spirit of the young artist had an oppor- 
tunity of shining forth. Among the doomed j)ict- 
ures was one by Pietro Perugino ; but Raffaelle 
could not bear that such an insult should be offered 
to his kind old master : he entreated earnestly that 
it might be spared. The Pope, touched by this 
unselfish request, granted it, and the picture still 
remains untouched, except by the hand of Time. 

11. The death of Julius II happened while 
Eaft'aelle was engaged in this great work ; but his 
successor, Leo X, by equal encouragement, enabled 
the artist to continue with a brave heart, and the 
paintings were finished at the end of nine years. 
The rooms they adorn are called the Chambers of 



STORIES OF ARTISTS. 149 

Raffaelle. They consist cliieily of Scripture sub- 
jects, and almost rival the works of Michael An- 
gelo in the Sistine Chapel. During those nine 
years, Raif aelle found time to paint other pictures, 
and to study architecture under Bramante ; so 
that, on the death of this relative, he was appoint- 
ed architect of St. Peter's in his stead. 

12. For Leo X Raff aelle also executed a set of 
twelve cartoons — a species of painting on large 
sheets of stiffened paper — representing passages 
in the New Testament. These cartoons were de- 
signed to be copied in tapestry in the Netherlands. 
Some of them are still preserved at Hampton 
Court, near London. 

13. Raffaelle's fame was now at its height, and 
reached the ears of Albert Dlirer, the great Ger- 
man painter and engraver on copper. Albert sent 
his own portrait and some of his engravings to 
Raffaelle, who was so delighted with them, that 
he studied the art himself, and caused to be en- 
graved several of his own pictures. He also, in 
return, sent to Albert Diirer some beautiful de- 
signs of his own, which were held most precious 
by the German artist. 

14. Raffaelle's greatest work, and alas ! his 
last, was " The Transfiguration of Christ," which 
lie painted for Cardinal de' Medici. In this he 
put forth all his powers, and it remains a lasting 



150 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

memorial of his genius. While engaged upon it, 
a sudden fever seized him, which, for want of 
proper treatment, proved fatal, and terminated his 
life in the prime of his youth and talents. KaflPaelle 
died on the day of his birth, Good-Friday, in 1520, 
aged only thirty-seven. His body was laid in state 
in his own studio, his scarcely finished picture of 
" The Transfiguration " being placed above it, that 
his sorrowful friends might look from the lifeless 
form of the painter to his immortal work. 

Chambers's Miscellany. 



STORIES OF SCIEl^OE AND IK- 
DUSTEY. 



XVII. 
SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 

1. On Christmas-day, in the year 1642, Isaac 
Newton was born at the small village of Wools- 
thorpe, in England. Little did his mother think, 
when she beheld her new-born babe, that he was 
destined to explain many matters which had been 
a mystery since the creation of the world. 

2. Isaac's father being dead, Mrs. Newton was 
married again to a clergyman, and went to reside 
at North Witham. Her son was left to the care 
of his good old grandmother, who was very kind to 
him and sent him to a school. In his early years 
Isaac did not appear to be a very bright scholar, 
but was chiefly remarkable for his ingenuity in 
all mechanical occupations. He had a set of little 
tools and saws of various sizes manufactured by 
himself. With the aid of these Isaac contrived to 
make many curious articles, at which he worked 



152 



STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 



with so much skill that he seemed to have been 
born with a saw or chisel in his hand. 

3. The neisrhbors looked with vast admiration 
at the things which Isaac manufactured. And his 

old grandmothei*, I 
suppose, was never 
weary of talking 
about him. '' He'll 
make a capital 
workman one of 
these days," she 
would probably 
say. " No fear but 
that Isaac will do 
well in the world, 
and be a rich man 
before he dies." 

4. It is amusing to conjecture what were the an- 
ticipations of his grandmother and the neighbors 
about Isaac's future life. Some of them, perhaps, 
fancied that he would make beautiful furniture of 
mahogany, rose- wood, or polished oak, inlaid with 
ivory and ebony, and magnificently gilded. And 
then, doubtless, all the rich people would purchase 
these fine things to adorn their drawing-rooms. 
Others, probably, thought that little Isaac was des- 
tined to be an architect, and would build splendid 
mansions for the nobility and gentry, and churches, 




Sir Isaac Newton. 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 153 

too, witli the tallest steeples tliat had ever been 
seen in England. 

5. Some of his friends, no donbt, advised Isaac's 
grandmother to apprentice him to a clock-maker ; 
for, besides his mechanical skill, the boy seemed 
to have a taste for mathematics, which would be 
very useful to him in that profession. And then, 
in due time, Isaac would set up for himself, and 
would manufacture curious clocks, like those that 
contain sets of dancing figures, which issue from 
the dial-plate when the hour is struck ; or like 
those where a ship sails across the face of the 
clock, and is seen tossing up and down on the 
waves as often as the pendulum vibrates. 

6. Indeed, there was some ground for suppos- 
ing that Isaac would devote himself to the manu- 
facture of clocks, since he had already made one 
of a kind which nobody had ever heard of before. 
It was set a-going, not by wheels and weights like 
other clocks, but by the dropping of water. This 
was an object of much wonderment to all the 
people round about ; and it must be confessed 
that there are few boys, or men either, who could 
contrive to tell what o'clock it is by means of a 
bowl of water. 

7. Besides the water-clock, Isaac made a sun- 
dial. Thus his grandmother was never at a loss 
to know the hour : for the water-clock would tell 



154 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

it in the shade, and tlie dial in the sunshine. The 
sun-dial is said to be still in existence at Wools- 
thorpe, on the corner of the house where Isaac 
dwelt. If so, it must have marked the passage of 
every sunny hour that has elapsed since Isaac 
Newton was a boy. It marked all the famous 
moments of his life ; it marked the hour of his 
death ; and still the sunshine cree^^s slowly over 
it, as regularly as when Isaac first set it up. 

8. Yet we must not say that the sun-dial has 
lasted longer than its maker ; for Isaac Newton 
will exist long after the dial — yea, and long after 
the sun itself — shall have crumbled to decay, 

9. Isaac possessed a wonderful faculty of ac- 
quiring knowledge by the simplest means. For 
instance, what method do you suppose he took to 
find out the strength of the wdnd ? You will never 
guess how the boy could compel that unseen, in- 
constant, and ungovernable wonder, the wind, to 
tell him the measure of its strens^th. Yet nothino: 
can be more simple. He jumped against the wind ; 
and by the length of his Jump he could calculate 
the force of a gentle breeze, a brisk gale, or a tem- 
pest. Thus, even in his boyish sports he was con- 
tinually searching out the secrets of philosophy. 

10. Not far from his grandmother's residence 
there was a windmill which operated on a new 
plan. Isaac was in the habit of going thither fre- 



STORTES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 155 

quently, and would spend whole hours in examin- 
ing its various parts. While the mill was at rest, 
he pried into its internal machinery. When its 
broad sails were set in motion by the wdnd, he 
watched the process by which the mill-stones were 
made to revolve and crush the grain that was put 
into the hopper. After gaining a thorough knowl- 
edge of its construction he was observed to be un- 
usually busy with his tools. It was not long be- 
fore his grandmother and all the neighborhood 
knew what Isaac had been about. He had con- 
structed a model of the windmill. Though not so 
large, I suppose, as one of the box-traps which 
boys set to catch squirrels, yet every part of the 
mill and its machinery was complete. Its little 
sails were neatly made of linen, and whirled round 
very swiftly when the mill was placed in a draught 
of air. Even a puff of wind from Isaac's mouth 
or from a pair of bellows was sufficient to set the 
sails in motion. And, what w^as most curious, if a 
handful of grains of wheat were put into the little 
hopper, they would soon be converted into snow- 
white flour. 

11. Isaac's playmates were enchanted with his 
new windmill. They thought that nothing so 
pretty and so wonderful had ever been seen in 
the whole world. ^' But, Isaac," said one of them, 
^^ you have forgotten one thing that belongs to a 



156 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

mill." " What is that ? " asked Isaac ; for he sup- 
posed that from the roof of the mill to its founda- 
tion he had forgotten nothing. " Why, where is 
the miller ? " said his friend. " That is true — I 
must look out for one," said Isaac ; and he set 
himself to consider how the deficiency should be 
supplied. He might easily have made the minia- 
ture hOTre of a man ; but then it would not have 
been able to move about and perform the duties 
of a miller. As Captain Lemuel Gulliver had not 
yet discovered the island of Lilliput, Isaac did not 
know that there were little men in the world whose 
size was Just suited to his windmill. It so hap- 
pened, however, that a mouse had just been caught 
in the trap ; and, as no other miller could be found, 
Mr. Mouse was aj^pointed to that important office. 
The new miller made a very respectable appear- 
ance in his dark-gray coat. To be sure, he had 
not a very good character for honesty, and was 
suspected of sometimes stealing a portion of the 
grain which was given him to grind. But per- 
haps some two-legged millers are quite as dishon- 
est as this small quadruped. 

12. As Isaac grew older, it was found that he 
had far more important matters in his mind than 
the manufacture of toys like the little windmill. 
All day long, if left to himself, he was either ab- 
sorbed in thought, or engaged in some book of 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 157 

mathematics or natural philosopliy. At niglit, I 
think it probable, he looked up with reverential 
curiosity to the stars, and wondered w hether they 
were worlds like our own, and how great was their 
distance from the earth, and what was the power 
that kept them in their courses. Perhaps, even 
so early in life, Isaac Newton felt a presentiment 
that he should be able, hereafter, to answer all 
these questions. 

13. When Isaac was fourteen years old, his 
mother's second husband being now dead, she 
wished her son to leave school and assist her in 
managing the farm at Woolsthorpe. For a year 
or two, therefore, he tried to turn his attention to 
farming. But his mind was so bent on becoming 
a scholar, that his mother sent him back to school, 
and afterward to the University of Cambridge. 

14. I have now finished my anecdotes of Isaac 
Newton's boyhood. My story would be far too 
long were I to mention all the splendid discoveries 
which he made after he came to be a man. He 
was the first that found out the nature of light ; 
for, before his day, nobody could tell what the 
sunshine w^as composed of. You remember, I sup- 
pose, the story of an apple's falling on his head, 
and thus leading him to discover the force of grav- 
itation, which keeps the heavenly bodies in their 
courses. When he had once got hold of this idea, 



158 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS, 

he never permitted liis mind to rest until he had 
searched out all the laws by which the planets are 
guided through the sky. This he did as thoroughly 
as if he had gone up among the stars and tracked 
them in their orbits. The boy had found out the 
mechanism of a windmill ; the man explained to 
his fellow-men the mechanism of the universe. 

15. While makins: these researches he was ac- 
customed to spend night after night in a lofty 
tower, gazing at the heavenly bodies through a 
telescope. His mind was lifted far above the 
things of this world. He may be said, indeed, to 
have spent the greater part of his life in worlds 
that lie millions of miles away ; for where the 
thoughts and the heart are, there is our true ex- 
istence. 

16. Did you never hear the story of Newton 
and his little dog Diamond ? One day, when he 
was fifty years old, and had been hard at work 
more than twenty years studying the theory of 
light, he went out of his chamber, leaving his 
little dog asleep before the iire. On the table lay 
a heap of manuscript papers, containing all the 
discoveries which Newton had made during those 
twenty years. When his master was gone, up rose 
little Diamond, jumped upon the table, and over- 
threw the lighted candle. The papers immediately 
caught fire. 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 159 

17. Just as the destruction was completed, 
JS'ewton opened tlie cliamber-door, and perceived 
that the labor of twenty years was reduced to a 
heap of ashes. There stood little Diamond, the 
author of all the mischief. Almost any other 
man would have sentenced the dog to immediate 
death. But Newton patted him on the head with 
his usual kindness, although grief was at his heart. 
'' O Diamond, Diamond," exclaimed he, " thou 
little knowest the mischief thou hast done ! " This 
incident affected his health and spirits for some 
time afterward ; but, from his conduct toward the 
little dog, you may judge what was the sweetness 
of his temper. 

18. Newton lived to be a very old man, ac- 
quii'ed great renown, was made a member of Par- 
liament, and received the honor of knighthood 
from the king. But he cared little for earthly 
fame and honors, and felt no pride in the vastness 
of his knowledge. All that he had learned only 
made him feel how little he knew in comparison 
with what remained to be known. 

19. "I seem to myself like a child," observed 
he, " playing on the sea-shore, and picking up here 
and there a curious shell or a pretty pebble, while 
the boundless ocean of Truth lies undiscovered 
before me." 

20. At last, in 1727, when he was fourscore 

u 



160 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

and five years old, Sir Isaac Newton died — or, 
rather, he ceased to live on earth. We may be 
permitted to believe that he is still searching out 
the infinite wisdom and goodness of the Creator 
as earnestly, and with even more success, than 
while his spirit animated a mortal body. He has 
left a fame behind him which will be as enduring 
as if his name were written in letters of light 
formed by the stars upon the midnight sky. 

Hawthorne. 



XVIII. 
WILLIAM CAXTON. 

1. It was probably at the press of Colard 
Mansion, in a little room over the porch of St. 
Donat's, at Bruges, that William Caxton learned 
the art which he was the first to introduce into 
England. A Kentish boy by birth, but appren- 
ticed to a London mercer, Caxton had already 
spent thirty years of his manhood in Flanders as 
governor of the English guild of merchant ad- 
venturers there, when we find him engaged as 
copyist in the service of Edward IV's sister. 
Duchess Maro-aret of Buro^undv. But the tedious 
process of copying was soon thrown aside for the 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 161 

new art which Colard Mansion had introduced 
into Bruges. 

2. '' Forasmuch as in the writing of the same," 
Caxton tells in the preface to his first printed 
w^ork, the " Tales of Troy," "my pen is worn, my 
hand is w^eary and not steadfast, mine eyes dimmed 
with overmuch looking on the white paper, and 
my courage not so prone and ready to labor as it 
hath been, and that age creepeth on me daily and 
feebleth all the body, and also because I have 
promised to divers gentlemen and to my friends to 
address to them as hastily as I might the said 
book, therefore I have practised and learned at 
my great charge and dispense to ordain this said 
book in print after the manner and form as ye 
may see, and is not written with pen and ink as 
other books be, to the end that every man may 
have them at once, for all the books of this story 
here emprynted as ye see were begun in one day 
and also finished in one day." 

3. The printing-press was the precious freight 
he brought back to England in 1476, after an ab- 
sence of five-and-thirty years. Through the next 
fifteen, at an age when other men look for ease 
and retirement, we see him plunging with charac- 
teristic energy into his new occupation. His red 
"pale," or heraldic shield, marked with a red bar 
down the middle, invited buyers to the press he 



162 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

established in tlie almonry at Westminster, a little 
inclosure containing a cliapel and almshouses near 
the west end of the church, where the alms of 
the abbey were distributed to the poor. 

4. "If it please you, any man, spiritual or 
temporal," runs his advertisement, ''to buy any 
pyes of two or three commemorations of Salis- 
bury, all emprynted after the form of the present 
letter, which be well and truly correct, let him 
come to Westminster in the almonry at the red pale, 
and he shall have them good chepe." Caxton was 
a practical man of business, as this advertisement 
shows, no rival of the Venetian Aldi, or of the 
classical printers of Rome, but resolved to get a 
living from his trade; supplying priests with 
service-books and preachers with sermons, f urnish- 
ins: the clerk with his " Golden Les^end," and 
knight and baron with "joyous and pleasant his- 
tories of chivalry." 

5. But, while careful to win his daily bread, 
he found time to do much for what of hio^her 
literature lay fairly at hand. He printed all the 
English poetry of any moment which was then in 
existence. His reverence for that " worshipful 
man, Geoffrey Chaucer," who " ought to be eter- 
nally remembered," is shown not merely by his 
edition of the " Canterbury Tales," but by his re- 
print of them when a purer text of the poem 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 163 

offered itself. The poems of Lydgate and Gower 
were added to tliose of Chaucer. The " Chronicle 
of Brut " and Higden's " Polychronicus " were the 
only available works of an historical character 
then existing in the English tongue, and Caxton 
not only printed them, but himself continued the 
latter up to his own time. A translation of 
Boethius, a version of the '^ Eneid " from the 
French, and a tract or two from Cicero, were the 
stray first-fruits of the classical press of England. 

J. R. Green. 



XIX. 
GEORGE STEPHENSON. 

1. GrEORGE Stepheis^sok, the perfecter of the 
locomotive, had a very humble beginning. His 
father, Robert Stephenson, with his wife Mabel, 
were a decent couple, living at a small colliery 
village called Wylam, situated on the north bank 
of the Tyne, about eight miles from Newcastle. 
Here " Old Bob," as Robert was usually styled by 
the neighbors, was employed as fireman to the 
engine which pumped water from the coalpit, 
an employment of a toilsome kind, but requiring 
no great skill, and accordingly requited by the 



164 



STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 




wage of a common laborer. He had six children, 
of whom George was the second, born Jnne 9, 
_ 1781. The lot of 

'1?^^ N^ the family was to 

\vork, and work 
they did. • We do 
not know whether 
the father had any 
wish to give his 
children a fair coun- 
try education. Per- 
haps there were no 
schools near at 
hand ; but, be this 
as it may, Bob's 
children, like their 
neighbors in like circumstances, were left entirely 
to themselves in the way of book-learning. When 
Geoi'ge was about eight years of age, his father 
removed to another colliery concern at Dewley 
Burn, where he filled a similar situation — that of 
shoveling in coal to a furnace which kept a steam- 
engine at work. 

2. Shortly after coming to Dewley Burn, 
George was put to work, as he was now eight 
years old, and it was believed he could earn some- 
thing to help on the family. A job was found 
for him; it was to herd a few cows, for which 



(jrcorge StepJu 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 165 

liglit duty lie was paid twopence a day. We are 
now, as it \vere, introduced to George. He comes 
on the stage as a barelegged herd-boy, driving 
cows, chasing butterflies, and amusing himself by 
making water-mills with reeds and straws, and 
even going the length of modeling small steam- 
engines with clay. Brought up among coal-pits 
and pumps, and wheels and engines, it was not 
surprising that his mind should have a bias to 
mechanics. Some boys, indeed, are so dull or heed- 
less, that they may see the most curious works of 
art without giving them any sort of attention; 
but George Stephenson pried into every mechan- 
ical contrivance that came under his notice, and 
acquired a knack of making things, with no other 
help than an old knife. He did not stare at things 
stupidly, or with an affected air of indiiference ; 
neither did he pretend to take an interest in works 
of art in order to appear clever. He liked to 
work out his own ideas in his simple way without 
a thought of results. 

3. From being a herd-boy, he was promoted 
to lead horses when plowing, hoe turnips, and 
do other farm-work, by which he rose from two- 
pence to fourpence a day. He might have ad- 
vanced to be an able-bodied plowman, but his 
tastes did not lie in the agricultural line. What 
he wished was to be employed about a colliery, so 



166 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

as to be among the bustle of wheels, gins, and pul- 
leys. Accordingly, quitting farm-work, he got em- 
ployment at Dewley Burn to drive a gin-horse, by 
which change he had another rise of twopence a 
day, his wages being now three shillings a week. 
In a short time he went as gin-horse driver to the 
colliery of Black Callerton ; and as this was two 
miles from the parental home, he walked that dis- 
tance morning and evening. This walk, however, 
was nothing to George, who was getting to be a 
big, stout boy, fond of rambling about after birds' 
nests, and keeping tame rabbits, and always taking 
a part in country sports. His next rise was to act 
as an assistant fireman to his father at Dewley. 
Gladly he accepted this situation, for, besides that 
he was allowed a shilling a day, he looked to being 
promoted to be engine-man, which now in his four- 
teenth year was the height of his ambition. 
George did not long remain here. The coal-pit 
was wrought out and deserted, and the workmen 
and apparatus were removed to a colliery at Jol- 
ly's Close, a few miles distant. The Stephenson 
family removed with the others, and now occupied 
a cottage of only a single apartment, situated in a 
row of similar dwellings, with a run of water in 
front, and heaps of debris all around. 

4. In this miserably confined cottage there 
were accommodated the father and mother and 



II 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 167 

six children, some of them pretty well grown up ; 
and, as all helped by their work, there was nothing 
like poverty in the household. George and his 
elder brother James were assistant firemen, two 
younger boys performed some humble labor about 
the pit, and two girls assisted their mother in 
household affairs. The total earnings of the father 
and sons amounted to from thirty-five to forty 
shillings a week. As this was equal to about one 
hundred pounds per annum, we are entitled to say 
that on that sum Old Bob ought to have brought 
up his family respectably, and given them at least 
the elements of education, but George, at fifteen 
years of age, when working as assistant fireman, 
and forming one of a family who were earning 
about a hundred pounds a year, and paying no 
house-rent, did not know a letter. From Dewley 
he went to Mid Mill, and after that to the colliery 
of Throckly-bridge, at w^hich his wages were 
twelve shillings a week. He felt that he was get- 
ting on. It was a proud moment for him when one 
Saturday evening he got his first twelve shillings. 
^' Now," said he, enthusiastically, ^' I am a made 
man for life." By way of occupying his idle 
minutes he began to model miniature steam-en- 
gines in clay, in which he had already some expe- 
rience, and w^hile so eno^ao:ed he was told of en- 
gines of a form and character he had never seen. 



168 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

They were not within reach, but were described in 
books. If he read these he would learn all about 
them ; but alas ! though now eighteen years of age 
he was still ignorant of the alphabet, and he set- 
tled in his own mind that he would go to school, 
cost what it might. 

5. He found out a poor teacher, named Robin 
Cowens, in the village of Walbottle, who agreed 
to give him lessons in the evening at the rate of 
threepence a week, a fee which he cheerfully ])aid. 
By Robin he was advanced so far as to be able 
to write h]s own name, which he did for the first 
time when he was nineteen years of age. To im- 
prove his acquirements he afterward, in the win- 
ter of 1799, went to an evening-school, kept by 
Andrew Robertson, a Scotch dominie, in the vil- 
lage of Newburn. Here he was advanced in a 
regular way to penmanship and arithmetic. But 
as there was not much time for arithmetical study 
during the limited school-hours, George got ques- 
tions in figures set on his slate, which next day he 
^vorked out while attendins: the ensrine. And 
that was all the education in the way of school- 
ing he ever got. Very imperfect it was in quality 
and extent, but it admitted him within the portals 
of knowledge, and getting that length, he was 
enabled to pick up and learn as he went on. 

6. The next event in his life was his removal, 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 169 

in 1801, to the Dolly pit, at Callerton, where he 
received somewliat higher wages, a point of some 
importance, for at this time the cost of living was 
very high. Perhaps it was owing to this dearth 
of food that George fell upon the expedient of 
devoting his leisure hours in the evening to the 
making and mending of shoes. Some may think 
that the craft of shoemaking was quite out of his 
way, but we have known several instances of 
shepherds and plowmen being makers and mend- 
ers of shoes in a homely style for their families, 
and therefore the " gentle craft " is not so very 
difficult to learn as might be imagined. George 
Stephenson became a tolerable shoemaker, though 
he kept chiefly to cobbling or mending. If any- 
thing could have spurred him on it was the desire 
to sole the shoes of his sweetheart, Fanny Hen- 
derson, and of these he is said to have made a 
" capital job." By means of his cobbling, he was 
able to save a guinea, which is I'ecorded as being 
the nest-egg of his fortune. 

7. No one ever saw him the worse for drink ; 
and while others were soaking in taverns, or 
amusing themselves with cock-fighting, he was at 
home, either trying to increase his sum of knowl- 
edge or applying himself to some useful occupa- 
tion which was in itself an amusement. His sobri- 
ety and industry had their reward. He was ena- 



170 STORIES OF OTHER LASDS 

bled to furnisli a house decently, and to many 
Fanny Henderson. The marriage was celebrated 
on November 28, 1802, and the pair betook them- 
selves to the neat home that had been prepared 
at Willington Ballast Quay, a place on the Tyne, 
about six miles from Newcastle. 

8. Settling down as a married man, George con- 
tinued to devote leisure hours to study or to some 
handicraft employment. From making and mend- 
ing shoes he proceeded to mend clocks, and became 
known among his neighbors as a wonderfully clev- 
er clock-doctor. It is said that he was led into this 
kind of employment by an accident. His chimney 
having got on fire, the neighbors, in putting it 
out, deluged the house with water, and damaged 
the eight-day clock. Handy at machinery, and 
wishing to save money, George determined to set 
the clock to rights. He took it to pieces, cleaned 
it, reorganized it, and made it go as well as ever. 
There was a triumph ! After this he was often 
employed as a repairer of clocks, by which he 
added a little to his income. 

9. On the 16th of December, 1803, was born 
his only son, Robert, who lived to be at the head 
of the railway engineering profession. But before 
either George or his son could arrive at distinction, 
there was not a little to be done. As a brakesman, 
George had charge of the coal-lifting machinery at 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 171 

Willington, and subseqiieutly at Killingwortli, and 
in this department, as well as engine-man, he grad- 
ually but surely gained the reputation of being an 
ingenious and trustworthy workman. At Killing- 
worth, which is about seven miles north of New- 
castle, he suffered the. great misfortune of losing 
his wife. This sad blow fell upon him in 1804, 
with his son still an infant. 

10. In one of his public speeches late in life, 
he observed : " In the earlier period of my career, 
when Robert was a little boy, I saw^ how deficient 
I was in education, and I made up my mind that 
he should not labor under the same defect, but 
that I would put him to a good school, and give 
him a liberal training. I was, however, a poor 
man ; and how do you think I managed ? I be- 
took myself to mending my neighbors' clocks and 
watches at nights, after my daily labor was done, 
and thus I procured the means of educating my 
son." 

11. In 1810 an opportunity occurred for George 
Stephenson signalizing himself. A badly construct- 
ed steam-engine at Killingworth High pit could 
not do its work ; one engineer after another tried to 
set it to rights, but all failed ; and at last, in de- 
spair, they were glad to let '' Geordie " try his hand, 
though, even with his reputation for cleverness, 
they did not expect him to succeed. To their mor- 



172 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

tification and astonishment, he was perfectly suc- 
cessful. He took the engine to pieces, rearranged 
it skillfully, and set it to work in the most effectual 
manner. Besides receiving a present of ten pounds 
for this useful service, he was placed on the foot- 
ing of a regular engineer, and afterward consulted 
in cases of defective pumping apparatus. 

12. Although thus rising in public estimation, 
he still knew his deficiencies, and strove to im- 
prove by renewed evening studies. One of his ac- 
quaintances, named John Wigham, gave him some 
useful instruction in branches of arithmetic, of 
which he had an imperfect knowledge, and the 
two together, with the aid of books, spent many 
pleasant evenings in getting an insight into chem- 
istry and other departments of practical science. 
His steadiness was at times sorely tried by the so- 
licitations of neighbors in his own rank ^^ to come 
and take a glass of yill " ; bat resolutions to be 
temperate, and to save for the sake of Robert's 
education, enabled him to withstand tempters of 
all kinds. By dint of such reserve he was able to 
save a hundred guineas, which, in consequence of 
the demand for bullion during the French AVar, 
he sold to money-brokers for twenty-six shillings 
each. At intervals in his ordinary labor he em- 
ployed himself in building an oven and some ad- 
ditional rooms to his cottage, which he likewise 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 173 

rendered attractive by a garden cultured with his 
own hands. 

13. Railroads were just beginning to be used, 
but no working locomotive had yet been invented. 
In this work George Stephenson took great inter- 
est, and after a variety of experiments he was sat- 
isfied that there would be sufficient adhesion in the 
wheels to overcome any tendency to slip, so that 
teeth or cogs were unnecessary. In July, 1814, 
he was able to begin running his locomotive, 
called the Blucher, on the Killingworth Railway. 
It was still only a coal-drag, and at best a clumsy 
apparatus, but it hauled eight loaded wagons, 
weighing thirty tons, at about four miles an hour. 
This was undoubtedly a success ; the thing could 
be done ; yet, as the cost of working was about as 
great as that by horses, little was gained. There 
must be fresh trials. As by a flash of inspiration 
Stephenson saw the leading defect and the method 
of curing it. The furnace wanted draught, which 
he gave by sending the waste steam into the chim 
ney ; and at once, by increased evolution of steam 
the power of the engine was doubled or tripled 
In 1815 he had a new locomotive at work, com 
bining this and some minor imjorovements. Still 
there was much to be done to perfect the machine 
The cost of working was so considerable that loco 
motive power did not meet with general approval 



174 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

the fact was, that railways at this period were not 
so accurately finished as they now are, and smooth 
and easy running ought not to have been expected. 
It was only step by step that both rails and mov- 
ing apparatus were brought to a comparatively 
perfect state. 

14. At the Killing worth colliery, Stephenson 
continued to plan his improvements, and also to 
advance in general knowledge in the society of 
his SOD, who, on leaving school in 1818, was j)laced 
as an apprentice to learn practically, underground, 
the business of a viewer of coal- mines ; and in 1820 
he went for a session of six months to the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh. The cost of this piece of edu- 
cation was eighty pounds, which the father could 
not well spare ; but the prize for skill in mathe- 
matics which his son broug-ht home with him at 
the end of the session was thought to be ample re- 
payment. 

15. Acquiring a knowledge of railways, Rob- 
ert was appointed to proceed to Colombia, South 
America, to superintend some railway operations. 
One day, previous to setting out, he dined with 
his father, and a young man named Dixon was of 
the party. An anecdote is related to show the 
strong faith which George Stephenson at this time 
entertained regarding railway progress. " Now, 
lads," said he to the two young men after dinner, 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 175 

" I will tell you that I think you will live to see 
the day, though I may not live so long, when rail- 
ways will come to supersede almost all other meth- 
ods of conveyance in this country — when mail- 
coaches will go by railway, and railways will be- 
come the great highway for the king and all his 
subjects. The time is coming when it will be 
cheajDer for a workingman to travel on a railway 
than to walk on foot. I know there are great and 
almost insurmountable difficulties that will have to 
be encountered ; but what I have said will come 
to pass as sure as we live. I only wish I may live 
to see the day, though that I can scarcely hope 
for, as I know how slow all human progress is, 
and with what difficulty I have been able to get 
the locomotive adopted, notwithstanding my more 
than ten years' successful experiment at Killing- 
worth." 

16. Soon after, Stephenson constructed the 
safety-lamp, and brought it into use at about the 
same time that it was invented by Sir Humphry 
Davy. The principle of construction of the two 
was the same. When a prize was offered for the 
best locomotive, the Rocket, made by Stephenson, 
was found so much superior to all others, that it 
was adopted at once. From that time onward the 
career of George Stephenson was one of continued 
prosperity. 

12 



176 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

17. In 1830, from Liverpool to Manchester he 
built the first general railroad ever constructed for 
commercial purposes. In this work his success 
was so great that for a long time all enterprises 
of the kind were committed to his charge. At 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne he built his locomotive- 
works, which for many years supplied all the rail- 
ways of the British kino-dom. Wealth and infiu- 
ence came from his success, and long before his 
death he was regarded as the greatest engineer of 
England. He died in 1848, at the age of sixty- 
seven, having lived to see his railway system in 
practical use in every civilized country on the 
globe. 



XX. 

THE BLACKBURN FARMER. 

1. About the middle of last century there re- 
sided in the village of Blackburn, in Lancashire, a 
farmer of small means, but of good natural capaci- 
ty, of a reflective habit, and endowed with a spirit 
of persistent perseverance rarely found in his walk 
of life. He tilled a few acres of land, the produce 
of which sufficed to su^^port his family, wliom he 
accustomed to fare humbly and labor hard. As 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 177 

for himself, lie cared uot how much he worked, nor 
to what employment he turned his hand. Any- 
thing that promised a remuneration for his indus- 
try he would attempt : if it prospered, and he ob- 
tained the proposed remuneration, it was well ; 
and if it failed, and he got no remuneration, still 
he extracted experience out of it, and was in a con- 
dition to enter on a new experiment with a better 
chance of success. 

2. This patience and good-humored self-posses- 
sion under all circumstances, was inherent in the 
man, and it proved in the end a most valuable 
quality, as we shall see. He was naturally fond 
of experiment ; and in the long evenings of win- 
ter, w^hen farming operations were unavoidably 
suspended, was accustomed to exercise his inge- 
nuity, of which he possessed a more than average 
share, in mechanical contrivances either for dimin- 
ishing labor or for rendering its operations more 
satisfactory and complete. 

3. At that period, all Lancashire and the man- 
facturing districts of the north w^ere more or less 
excited on the subject of the cotton manufactures, 
which the inventions of Hargreaves and others had 
brought to a state of perfection that promised to 
make Great Britain the commercial center of the 
w^orld. It is no wonder, therefore, that the farmer 
turned his attention to this branch of manufacture. 



178 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

Being struck with the clumsy tediousness of the 
process by which the cotton- wool was brought into 
a state fit for spinning, he set about contriving a 
quicker and more satisfactory method of doing the 
work. Before long he was led to the adoption of 
a cylinder, instead of the common hand-cards then 
in use ; and in the end produced machines of simple 
construction, by which the work of carding was not 
only performed more effectually, but at a much 
more expeditious rate. 

4. The cotton fabrics which were produced at 
this period were far different in appearance from 
those with which the last three generations have 
been familiar; they Avere, in fact, only cotton 
cloths, either indifferently white, or dyed in such 
homely colors as the dyers of the time could im- 
part to them. Though useful for a variety of do- 
mestic purposes and for under-garments, the idea 
of making them the materials of personal adorn- 
ment and elegant attire seems as yet to have sug- 
gested itself to no one. But now the Blackburn 
farmer conceived that idea, and, inspirited by his 
success in the wool-carding department, resolved 
to carry it out with all the energy at his command. 

5. To talking he was not much given, and to 
boasting not at all, and on this occasion, especially, 
he shrewdly kept his plans to himself. Procuring 
a stout block of wood, ten inches long by five inch- 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 179 

es wide, and some two inclies thick, lie drew witli 
a j)encil on the smooth side of it the exact repre- 
sentation of a parsley-leaf gathered from his gar- 
den. He then set to work with penknife and 
small chisels, and such other tools as he could pur- 
chase, and with his own hands cut away all those 
parts of the wood not covered by the drawing, 
leaving the spray of parsley standing in relief ; or, 
in other words, he made a wood-engraving of the 
leaf, differing in no other respect from the wood- 
engravings of the artist of to-day but in the rough 
coarseness of the work, unavoidable in a first at- 
tempt. In the back of the block he fixed a handle, 
and at each of the four corners of it he inserted a 
little pin of stout wire. 

6. His next step was to mix a lively green color, 
well ground up with alum, to a consistency fit for 
printing. The color was contained in a tub, and 
upon its surface lay a thick woolen cloth, which, 
of course, became thoroughly saturated with the 
coloring-matter. Laying a blanket on a stout 
kitchen-table, and stretching the white calico cloth 
on the top of that, the ingenious farmer applied 
his wooden block to the saturated woolen cloth, 
dabbing it repeatedly until it had taken up a suffi- 
cient quantity of the color. He then laid the block 
squarely on the stretched cloth, and gave it a smart 
blow on the back with a mallet, thus printing the 



180 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

impression of the parsley-leaf. The four little 
pins fixed at the corners of the block served to 
guide him in applying it squarely at each consecu- 
tive impression ; and thus he worked away, until 
the whole surface of the cloth was covered with 
the parsley -leaves, and he had produced the first 
piece of printed cotton the world had ever seen. 

7. The parsley-leaf pattern succeeded so well 
that he soon found himself called- on for others of 
various designs, which also he made with his own 
hands, thus keeping his secret to himself, and shut- 
ting out rivals in the trade which his owm ingenu- 
ity had created. And now the demand for his 
novel wares grew so urgent that he could not pro- 
duce them fast enough for his customers. As a 
matter of course, he had impressed the services of 
his whole family — his sons aiding in the printing, 
and his wife and daughters working early and late 
in ironing out the printed cloths after the coloring- 
matter was dry. This ironing process took a great 
deal of time ; and though the women bent over 
the flat-irons early and late, they could not meet 
the urgency of the case, and thus the execution of 
the orders that poured in was continually delayed. 

8. To overcome this obstacle the farmer set his 
wits to work to contrive a machine to supersede 
the use of the flat-irons. Rememberino; the advan- 
tage he had derived from the use of a cylinder in 






STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 181 

carding the cotton- wool, he turned again to the cyl- 
inder to effect his present purpose. He instruct- 
ed a carpenter to make a large oblong frame, with 
a smooth bed of solid planking, supported on up- 
right posts, and with a raised rail or ledge on either 
side. Running from side to side he placed a roller, 
with a handle to turn it, and round the roller he 
wound a rope spirally. Each end of the rope was 
fastened to a strong, oblong box, as large as the 
bed of the frame ; and the box being filled with 
bricks and paving-stones, was heavy enough to im- 
part a powerful pressure. Instead of ironing his 
pieces of printed cloth, the farmer now wound 
them carefully round small wooden rollers, which 
he placed in the smooth bed beneath the box of 
stones, drew that backward and forward over them, 
by means of the handle affixed to the cylinder, 
which had the rope coiled round it, and so, with- 
out the use of the hot flat-irons, gave the desired 
finish to his work. And thus it was that the^^\9^ 
niarigle came into the world. 

9. This machine answered its purpose admira- 
bly, and, by releasing the wife and daughters from 
the ironing-table, increased by so much the pro- 
ducing power of the family. The farmer worked 
on now with redoubled dilio:ence : the more cot- 
tons he printed, the more people wanted them ; 
and as he had taken especial care that no man 



182 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

should become master of liis mystery, he retained 
the trade in his own hands. As years flowed on 
wealth poured in, and the small farmer of the vil- 
lage became the principal of one of the largest 
and most prosperous manufacturing houses in the 
country. He took his eldest sou into partnership, 
and applying his capital to the production of ma- 
chinery to facilitate cotton-printing, was enabled 
to transfer his patterns from blocks to cylinders, 
and thus to print, in a few minutes only, a piece 
of cloth which it would have taken a week to com- 
plete under the old process of a mallet and blocks. 

10. The farmer's son became a man of vast 
wealth and influence. It was but a trifle to him^ 
when the burden of war weighed heavily upon 
his country and the national emergencies were 
most oppressively felt, to raise and equip, at his 
own expense, a regiment of horse for the defense 
of the country, and present them to the Govern- 
ment. This he did ; and the Government, in return 
for his generous j)atriotism, made him a baronet. 

11. The patriotic baronet had a son, who, 
though inheriting the thorough-working faculty 
and persistent perseverance of the family, was not 
brought up to the manufacturing business with 
the view of adding to the family wealth. The 
grandson of the Blackburn farmer was placed un- 
der skillful instructors, and in due time sent to 



STORIES OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 183 

college, where lie set a noble example of subor- 
dination and diligence, displayed abilities of the 
highest order, and won distinguished honors. He 
afterward obtained a seat in Parliament, where he 
served his country for a period exceeding the av^er- 
age duration of human life, and served it, too, with 
a fidelity, proof not only against the seductive in- 
fluence of party, but against his personal interests, 
and in opposition to the cherished friendships of a 
whole life. 

12. He obtained, and for a long period en- 
joyed, the greatest lion or which it is possible for a 
sovereign to confer upon a subject. As the Prime 
Minister of England, he devoted himself to the 
welfare of the people, working steadily for the 
emancipation of industry, the amelioration of the 
poor man's lot, and the cheapening of the poor 
man's loaf. In this cause he signally triumphed, 
dying in the midst of his success, by what seemed 
the sudden stroke of accident, and leaving behind 
him a name and a fame dear to Britain and hon- 
ored throughout the world. 

13. We need scarcely add that the name of the 
small Blackburn farmer, of the wealthy and patri- 
otic baronet, and of the champion of free trade, is 
one and the same, and that it will be found carved 
on the pedestal of the statue of Robert Peel. 

Charnbers's Miscellanies. 



MISCELLANEOUS STOEIES. 



XXI. 
SAMUEL JOHNSON'S REPENTANCE. 

1. " Sam," said Mr. Michael Johnson, of Lieh- 
iield, one morning, " I am very feeble and ailing 
to-day. You must go to Uttoxeter in my stead, 
and tend the book-stall in the market-place there." 
This was spoken above a hundred years ago, by 
an elderly man, who had once been a thriving 
bookseller at Lichiield, in England. Being now 
in reduced circumstances, he was forced to go 
every market-day and sell books at a stall in the 
neighboring village of Uttoxeter. 

2. When Mr. Michael Johnson spoke, Sam 
pouted and made an indistinct grumbling in his 
throat ; then he looked his old father in the face 
and answered him loudly and deliberately '^ Sir," 
said he, " I will not go to Uttoxeter market ! " 

3. " Well, Sam," said Mr. Johnson, as he took 
his hat and staff, " if for the sake of your foolish 
pride you can suffer your poor sick father to 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 185 

stand all day in the noise and confusion of the 
market when he ought to be in his bed, I have 
no more to say. But you will think of this, Sam, 
when I am dead and gone." So the poor old man 
set forth toward Uttoxeter. The gray - haired, 
feeble, melancholy Michael Johnson, how sad a 
thing that he should be forced to go, in his sick- 
ness, and toil for the support of an ungrateful son 
who was too proud to do anything for his father, 
or his mother, or himself ! Sam looked after Mr. 
Johnson with a sullen countenance till he was out 
of sight. 

4. '' My poor father ! " thought Sam to him- 
self, '' how his head will ache, and how heavy his 
heart will be ! I am almost sorry that I did not 
do as he bade me." Then the boy went to his 
mother, who was busy about the house. She did 
not know what had passed between Mr. John- 
son and Sam. " Mother," said he, " did you think 
father seemed very ill to-day ? " '^ Yes, Sam," an- 
swered his mother, turning with a flushed face 
from the fire, where she was cooking their scanty 
dinner, " your father did look very ill ; and it 
is a pity he did not send you to Uttoxeter in his 
stead. You are a great boy now, and would re- 
joice, I am sure, to do something for your poor 
father, who has done so much for you." 

5. After sunset old Michael Johnson came 



186 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

slowly home and sat down in his customary chair. 
He said nothing to Sam ; nor do I know that a 
single word ever passed between them on the sub- 
ject of the son's disobedience. In a few years his 
father died, and left Sam to fight his way through 
the world by himself. Well, my children, fifty 
years had passed away since young Sam Johnson 
had shown himself so hard-hearted toward his 
father. It was now market-day in the village of 
Uttoxeter. 

6. In the street of the village you might see 
cattle-dealers with cows and oxen for sale, and pig- 
drovers with herds of squeaking swine, and farmers 
with cart-loads of cabbages, turnips, onions, and all 
other produce of the soil. Now and then a farm- 
er's red-faced wife trotted along on horseback, 
with butter and cheese in two large panniers. 
The people of the village, with country squires 
and other visitors from the neighborhood, walked 
hither and thither, trading, jesting, quarreling, and 
making just such a bustle as their fathers and 
grandfathers had made half a century before. 

7. In one part of the street there was a pup- 
pet-show, with a ridiculous merry-andrew, who 
kept both grown people and children in a roar 
of laughter. On the opposite site was the old 
stone church of Uttoxeter, with ivy climbing up 
its walls and partly obscuring its Gothic windows. 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 187 

There was a clock in the gray tower of the an- 
cient church, and the hands on the dial-plate had 
now almost reached the honr of noon. At this 
busiest hour of the market a strange old gentle- 
man was seen making his way among the crowd. 
He was very tall and bulky, and wore a brown 
coat and small-clothes, with black worsted stock- 
ings and buckled shoes. On his head was a three- 
cornered hat, beneath which a bushy gray wig 
thrust itself out, all in disorder. The old gentle- 
man elbowed the people aside and forced his way 
through the midst of them with a singular kind of 
gait, rolling his body hither and thither, so that 
he needed twice as much room as any other person 
there. 

8. But when they looked into the venerable 
stranger's face, not the most thoughtless among 
them dared to offer him the least impertinence. 
Though his features were scarred and distorted, 
and though his eyes were dim and bleared, yet 
there w^as something of authority and wisdom in 
his looks which impressed them all with awe. So 
they stood aside to let him pass, and the old gen- 
tleman made his way across the market-place, and 
paused near the corner of the ivy-mantled church. 
Just as he reached it the clock struck twelve. 

9. On the very spot of ground where the 
stranger now stood some aged people remembered 



188 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

that old Michael Johnson had formerly kept his 
book-stall. The little children who had once 
bought picture-books of him were grandfathers 
now. 

10. "Yes, here is the very spot!" muttered 
the old gentleman to himself. There this un- 
known personage took his stand and removed the 
three-cornered hat from his head. It was the busi- 
est hour of the day. What with the lium of human 
voices, the lowing of cattle, the squeaking of j)igs, 
and the laughter caused by the merry-andrews, 
the market-place was in very great confusion. 
But the stranger seemed not to notice it any more 
than if the silence of a desert were around him. 
He was wrapped in his own thoughts. Sometimes 
he raised his furrowed brow to heaven, as if in 
prayer ; sometimes he bent his head, as if an in- 
supportable weight of sorrow were apon him. It 
increased the awfulness of his aspect that there 
was a motion of his head and an almost continual 
tremor throughout his frame, with singular twitch- 
ings and contortions of his features. 

11. The hot sun blazed upon his unprotected 
head ; but he seemed not to feel its power. A 
dark cloud swept across the sky, and rain -drops 
pattered into the market-place ; but the stranger 
heeded not the shower. The people began to gaze 
at the mysterious old gentleman with superstitious 



I 







There this unkyiown personage took his stand and removed the three-cornered 
hat from his head. 



190 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

fear and wonder. Who could he be ? Whence 
did he come ? Wherefore was he standing bare- 
headed in the market-place? Even the school- 
boys left the merry-andrew and came to gaze, 
with wide-open eyes, at this tall, strange-looking 
old man. 

12. Yes, the poor boy, the friendless Sam, with 
whom we began our story, had become the famous 
Doctor Samuel Johnson. He was universally ac- 
knowledged as the wisest man and greatest writer 
in all England. But all his fame could not extin- 
guish the bitter remembrance which had tor- 
mented him through life. Never, never had he 
forgotten his father's sorrowful and upbraiding 
look. Never, though the old man's troubles had 
been over so many years, had he forgiven himself 
for inflicting such a pang upon his heart. And 
now, in his old age, he had come hither to do pen- 
ance, by standing at noonday, in the market-place 
of Uttoxeter, on the very spot where Michael 
Johnson had once kept his book-stall. The aged 
and illustrious man had done what the poor boy 
refused to do. By thus expressing his deep re- 
pentance of heart, he hoped to gain peace of con- 
science and the forgiveness of God. 

Hawthorne. 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 19,1 

XXII. 
FLORA MACDONALD. 

1, After the battle of Culloden in 1746, the 
Pretender Charles Edward fled to the Highlands 
of Scotland, and for some weeks was concealed 
there while the soldiers were raiding the whole 
country in search of him. A large price was set 
upon his head, yet none of the many w^ho knew of 
his places of concealment would betray him. At 
one time he fled in an open boat to South Wist, 
an island on the west coast, where he found refuge 
with Laird Macdonald. His pursuers discovered 
his retreat, and three thousand English soldiers 
were sent to search every nook and dell, crag and 
cottage, on the island. A cordon of armed vessels 
surrounded South Wist, so that escape appeared 
impossible. 

2. But escape from the island was necessary 
for the safety of the prince. Lady Macdonald 
proposed that he should put on the garb of a serv- 
ant-woman, and, in company with a lady as wait- 
ing-maid, leave the island. Who had the courage? 
Flora Macdonald, from Mill burg, a beautiful girl, 
just from school at Edinburgh, was then on a 
visit. Her step-father was on the island, in com- 
mand of a corps of soldiers searching for the 

13 



192 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

prince. Regardless of the certain displeasure of 
her father, and the extreme peril of the undertak- 
ing, Flora acceded to the proposal of Lady Mac- 
donald to save the prince, and that very night, in 
company with a trusty officer, she went among the 
crags of Carrodale, to the cave where the royal 
fugitive was concealed. 

3. Great was the delight of the prince when 
he was informed of the plan of escape. Within 
a day or two Flora procured from her step-father 
a passport for herself, a young companion, a boat's 
crew, and Betsey Bourke, an Irishwoman whom 
Flora pretended she had engaged as a spinster for 
her mother. The prince, attired as Betsey Bourke, 
embarked with Flora and her companions, on the 
28th of June, 1746, for the Isle of Skye. A furious 
tempest tossed them about all night, and a band 
of soldiers prevented their landing in the morning. 
They finally landed near the residence of Sir Al- 
exander Macdonald, where the prince was con- 
cealed in a cavity in the rock, for the laird was his 
enemy, and his hall was filled with soldiers seeking 
the fugitive. Flora touched the heart of Lady Mac- 
donald, and by her aid the prince and the maiden 
made a safe journey of twelve miles on foot to 
Potarce. Here they parted forever, the prince to 
escape to France, and Flora to be soon afterward car- 
ried a prisoner to London and cast into the Tower„ 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 193 

4. The story of her adventure excited the ad- 
miration of all classes, and as she was not a parti- 
san of the Pretender, nor of his religious faith, the 
nobility interfered in her behalf. The father of 
George III visited her in prison, and so much 
was he interested in her that he procured her re- 
lease. While she remained in London, her resi- 
dence was surrounded by the carriages of the no- 
bility, and Lady Primrose, a friend of the Pre- 
tender, introduced her to court society. When 
presented to old King George II, he said to her, 

*^How could you dare to succor the enemy of 
my crown and kingdom?" Flora replied with 
great simplicity, " It was no more than I would 
have done for your Majesty, had you been in a 
like situation." A chaise-and-four w^ere fitted up 
for her return to Scotland, and her escort was Mal- 
colm McLeod, who often said afterwaid, " I went 
to London to be hanged, but rode back in a chaise- 
and-four with Flora Macdonald." 

5. Four years afterward she married Allan, the 
son of Laird Macdonald, and became mistress of the 
mansion where the prince passed the first night 
on the Isle of Skye. In 1775 she and her hus- 
band with several children came to this country 
and settled in North Carolina. Upon the break- 
ing out of the Eevolution she espoused the royal- 
ist cause, and was very active in inducing her coun- 



194 STORIES OF OTHER LAXDS 

tiymen to enlist in the British army. As the for- 
tunes of war declared against her, she embarked 
with her family for Scotland, where she lived until 
1790, when she died full of years and honors. 

Lossing. 



XXIII. 

GRACE DARLING. 



1. Grace Darling was born November 24, 
1815, at Bamborough, on the Northumberland 
coast, being the seventh child of her parents. Of 
the events of her early years, whether she was edu- 
cated on the mainland, or lived constantly in the 
solitary abode of her parents, first at the Browns- 
man, and afterward on the Longstone Island, we 
are not particularly informed. During her child- 
ish years, and till the time of her death, her resi- 
dence in the Longstone lighthouse was constant, 
or only broken by occasional visits to the coast. 
She and her mother managed the little household 
at Longstone. She is described as having been at 
that time, as indeed during her whole life, remark- 
able for a retiring and somewhat reserved disposi- 
tion. In person she was about the middle size, of 
fair complexion, and a comely countenance, with 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 195 

nothing masculine in her appearance ; but, on the 
contrary, gentle in aspect, and with an expression 
of the greatest mildness and benevolence. 

2. William Howitt, the poet, who visited her 
after the deed which made her so celebrated, found 
her a realization of his idea of Jeanie Deans, the 
amiable and true-spirited heroine of Sir Walter 
Scott's novel, who did and suffered so much for her 
unfortunate sister. She had the sweetest smile, he 
said, that he had ever seen in a person of her sta- 
tion and appearance. " You see," says he, " that 
she is a thoroughly good creature, and that under 
her modest exterior lies a spirit capable of the 
most exalted devotion — a devotion so entire, that 
daring is not so much a quality of her nature, as 
that the most perfect sympathy with suffering or 
endangered humanity swallows up and annihilates 
everything like fear or self -consideration — puts out, 
in fact, every sentiment but itself." 

3. Throuo^h the channels between the smaller 
Fame Islands the sea rushes with great force ; and 
many a shipwreck of which there is no record must 
have happened here in former times, when no bea- 
con existed to guide the mariner in his path through 
the deep. Mr. Howitt, speaking of his visit to 
Longstone, says : " It was like the rest of these 
desolate isles, all of dark whinstone, cracked in 
every direction, and worn with the action of winds, 



196 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

waves, and tempests since the world began. Over 
the greater part of it was not a blade of grass nor 
a grain of earth ; it was bare and iron-like stone, 
crusted, round all the coast, as far as high- water 
mark, with limpet and still smaller shells. We 
ascended wrinkled hills of black stone, and de- 
scended into worn and dismal dells of the same ; 
into some of Avhich, where the tide got entrance, 
it came pouring and roaring in raging whiteness, 
and chuining the loose fragments of whinstone 
into round pebbles, and piling them up in deep 
crevices with sea-weeds, like great round ropes and 
heaps of fucus. Over our heads screamed hun- 
dreds of hovering birds, the gull mingling its 
hideous laughter most wildly." 

4. Living in that lonely spot in the midst of 
the ocean, witli the horrors of the tempest famil- 
iarized to her mind, her constant lullaby the sound 
of the everlasting deep, her only prospect that of 
tlie wide-spreading sea, with the distant sail on the 
horizon, Grace Darling was shut out, as it were, 
from the active scenes of life, and debarred from 
those innocent enjoyments of society and compan- 
ionship which, as a female, must have been dear 
to her, unaccustomed though she was to their in- 
dulgence. 

5. She had reached her twenty-second year 
M^hen the incident occurred by which her name 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 197 

has been rendered so famous. The Forfarshire 
steamer, a vessel of about three hundred tons bur- 
den, under the command of Captain John Humble, 
sailed from Hull, on her voyage to Dundee, on 
the evening of Wednesday, September 5, 1838, 
with a valuable cargo of bale-goods and sheet-iron, 
and having on board about twenty-two cabin and 
nineteen steerage passengers, as nearly as could 
be ascertained — Captain Humble and his wife, ten 
seamen, four firemen, two engineers, two coal- 
trimmers, and two stewards; in all sixty-three 
persons. 

6. The Forfarshire was only two years old ; 
but there can be no doubt that her boilers were 
in a culpable state of disrepair. In this ineffi- 
cient state the vessel proceeded on her voyage, 
and passed through the '' Fairway," between the 
Fame Islands and the land, about six o'clock on 
Thursday evening. She entered Berwick Bay 
about eight o'clock the same evening, the sea run- 
ning high and the wind blowing strong from the 
north. From the motion of the vessel, a small 
leak in the boilers which it was thoug-ht had been 
thoroughly repaired, was reopened, and increased 
to such a degree that the hremen could not keep 
the fires burning. Two men were then emj^loyed 
to pump water into the boilers, but it escaped 
through the leak as fast as they pumped it in. 



198 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

About ten o'clock, slie bore up off St. Abb's Head, 
the storm still raging witli unabated fury. Tlie 
engines soon after became entirely useless, and 
the engineer reported that they would not work. 
There being great danger of drifting ashore, the 
sails were hoisted fore and aft, and the vessel got 
about, in order to get her before the wind, and keep 
her off the land. No attempt was made to anchor. 
7. The vessel soon became unmanageable, and 
the tide setting strong to the south, she proceeded 
in that direction. It rained heavily during the 
whole time, and the fog was so dense that it be- 
came impossible to tell the situation of the vessel. 
At leno^th breakers were discovered close to lee- 
ward ; and the Fame lights, which about the same 
period became visible, left no doubt as to the im- 
minent peril of all on board. Captain Humble 
vainly attempted to avert the catastrophe by run- 
nino^ the vessel between the islands and the main- 
land ; but she would not answer her helm, and 
was impelled to and fro by a furious sea. Be- 
tween three and four o'clock she struck with her 
bows foremost on the rock, the ruggedness of 
w^hich is such that, at periods when it is dry, it is 
scarcely possible for a person to stand erect upon 
it ; and the edge which met the Forfarshire's tim- 
bers descends sheer down a hundred fathoms deep 
or more. 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 199 

8. Very soon after the first shock a powerful 
wave struck the vessel on the quarter, and raising 
her off the rock allowed her immediately after to 
fall violently down upon it, the sharp edge strik- 
ing her about midships. She was by this fairly 
broken in two pieces ; and the after-part, contain- 
ing the cabin, with many passengers, was instantly 
carried off through a tremendous current called 
the Pifa Gut, which is considered dangerous even 
in good weather, while the forepart remained on 
the rock. The captain and his wife seem to have 
been among those who perished in the hinderpart 
of the vessel. 

9. At the moment when the boat parted, sev- 
eral of the passengers betook themselves to the 
windlass in the forepart of the vessel, which they 
conceived to be the safest place. Here also a 
few sailors took their station, although despairing 
of relief. The sufferers, nine in number (five of 
the crew and four passengers) remained in their 
dreadful situation till daybreak — exposed to the 
buffeting of the waves amid darkness, and fear- 
ful that every rising surge would sweep the frag- 
ment of wreck on which they stood into the deep. 
Such was their situation when, as day broke on 
the morning of the 7th, they were descried from 
the Longstone by the Darlings, at a distance of 
nearly a mile. A mist hovered over the island ; 



200 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

and though the wind had somewhat abated its vio- 
lence, the sea, ^vhich even in the calmest weather 
is never at rest among the gorges between these 
iron pinnacles, still raged fearfully. At the light- 
house there were only Mr. and Mrs. Darling and 
their heroic daughter. 

10. To have braved the perils of that terrible 
passage then, would have done the highest honor 
to the well-tried nerves of even the stoutest of the 
male sex. But what shall be said of the errand 
of mercy being undertaken and accomplished 
mainly through the strength of a female heart and 
arm ? Through the dim mist, with the aid of the 
glass, the figures of the sufferers were seen cling- 
ing to the wreck. But who could dare to tempt 
the raging abyss that intervened, in the hope of 
succoring them ? Mr. Darling, it is said, shrank 
from the attempt — not so his daughter. At her 
solicitation the boat was launched, with the assist- 
ance of her mother, and father and daughter en- 
tered it, each taking an oar. It is worthy of being 
noticed that Grace never had occasion to assist in 
the boat previous to the wreck of the Forfarshire, 
others of the family being always at hand. 

11. It could only have been by the exertion 
of great muscular power, as Avell as of determined 
courage, that the father and daughter carried the 
boat up to the rock; and when there, a danger. 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 



201 




greater even than 
that which they had 
encountered in ap- 
proaching it, arose 
from the difficulty of 
steadying the boat, 
and prevented its 
being destroyed on 
those sharp ridges by the ever-restless chafing 
and heaving of ^the billows. However, the nine 
sufferers were safely rescued. The deep sense 



202 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

which one of the poor fellows entertained of the 
generous conduct of Darling and his daughter was 
testified by his eyes filling with tears when he 
described it. The thrill of delight, which he ex- 
perienced when the boat was observed approach- 
ing the rock, was converted into a feeling of 
amazement, which he could not find language to 
express, when he became aware of the fact that 
one of their deliverers was a woman ! The suffer- 
ers were conveyed at once to the lighthouse, which 
was in fact their only place of refuge at the time ; 
and owins: to the violent seas that continued to 
prevail among the islands, they were obliged to 
remain there for thi'ee days. 

12. The subsequent events of Grace Darling's 
life are soon told. The deed she had done may 
be said to have wafted her name over all Europe. 
Immediately, on the circumstances being made 
known through the newspapers, that lonely light- 
house became the center of attraction to curious 
and sympathizing thousands, including many of 
the wealthy and the great, who, in most instances, 
testified by substantial tokens the feelings with 
which they regarded the young heroine. The 
Duke and Duchess of Northumberland invited 
her and her father over to Alnwick Castle, and 
presented her with a gold watch, which she always 
afterward wore when visitors came. 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 203 

18. The Humane Society sent her a most flat- 
tering vote of thanks ; the president presented her 
with a handsome silver teapot ; and she received 
almost innumerable testimonials of greater or less 
value from admiring; strans^ers. With the view of 
rewarding her for her bravery and humanity, a 
public subscription was raised which is said to 
have amounted to about £700. Her name was 
echoed with applause among all ranks, portraits 
of her were eagerly sought for, and to such a pitch 
did the enthusiasm reach, that a large nightly sum 
Avas offered her by the j^roprietors of one or more 
of the metropolitan theatres and other places of 
amusement, on condition that she would merely 
sit in a boat, for a brief space, during the perform- 
ance of a piece whose chief attraction she was to 
be. All such offers were, however, promjjtly and 
steadily declined. It is, indeed, gratifying to state 
that, amid all this tumult of applause, Grace 
Darling never for a moment forgot the modest 
dignity of conduct which became her sex and sta- 
tion. The flattering testimonials of all kinds 
which were showered upon her never produced 
in her mind any feeling but a sense of wonder and 
grateful pleasure. She continued, notwithstand- 
ing the improvement of her circumstances, to re- 
side at the Longstone lighthouse with her father 
and mother, finding, in her limited sphere of do- 



204 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

mestic duty on that sea-girt islet, a more honor- 
able and more rational enjoyment than could be 
found in the crowded haunts of the mainland, and 
thus affording by her conduct the best proof that 
the liberality of the public had not been unwor- 
thily bestowed. 

Chmnherss Miscellany. 



XXIV. 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 

1, Ojn^ February 24, 1857, there commenced 
in British India the most formidable mutiny that 
had ever broken out in that vast country — a mu- 
tiny which taxed the utmost powers of the state 
to quell, and called forth brilliant examples of 
heroic suffering and daring valor. It had more 
the form of a mutiny of the native soldiery than 
a general rebellion of the people, although the 
latter element was not altogether wanting. 

2. The extreme length of India is about 1,900 
miles, the extreme breadth about 1,600 — an area a 
hundred and fifty times as large as Great Britain ; 
and the natives are broadly distinguished by their 
religion into Hindoos and Mohammedans. The 



MISGELLANEOUti STORIES. 205 

vast population of nearly 240,000,000 is made up 
of many nations and tribes. 

3. In tlie year IBOO Queen Elizabeth gave a 
charter to a company of merchants to be called 
the East India Company, who were at first only 
traders, but gradually mixed themselves up with 
the quarrels of the native princes, and usually 
contrived to gain something out of each (quarrel. 
In this way they gradually acquired power over 
a large part of the country, and Lord Clive by 
splendid victories over the French in the Madras 
Presidency, and the native princes in Bengal, 
gained large dominions for the company, and, be- 
fore he finally left India, virtually established 
what might be called the British Empire in the 
East. A governor-general for all the British pos- 
sessions in India was first appointed in 1773, and, 
during the subsequent period of a century, this 
post has been occupied by a succession of eminent 
men 

4. The portion of India which was in British 
hands at the time of the mutiny extended from 
the Himalayas on the north to Ceylon on the 
south, and from the Ganges on the east to the 
mouths of the Indus on the west, and was dotted 
here and there by independent or semi-independ- 
ent states. There were 132,000,000 natives of In- 
dia subject to British rule. 



206 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

5. These wide-spreading territories were de- 
fended by 280,000 soldiers in the pay of the com- 
pany, most of them being natives commanded by 
British officers. The most perilous element in this 
great force was the native regular infantry, com- 
prising one hundred and fifty-five complete regi 
ments. The Mohammedans joined in the mutiny 
with the hope of re-establishing a great Moslem 
empire, while the Hindoos had special motives of 
their own, connected chiefiy with religion and 
caste. Both races were alarmed and irritated 
upon the subject of the cartridges used for the 
recently introduced Enfield rifle — the Hindoos, 
lest the cartridges should be greased w4th the fat 
of the bullock or cow, and their mouths should 
be defiled in biting oif the ends, and they should 
lose caste ; while the Mohammedans feared that 
the lubricating grease contained the much-abhorred 
swine's fat — the swine being too vile for the one 
and the cow too sacred for the other to touch 
with their lips. 

6. The first actual outbreak was at Berham- 
pore on February 24th, but was soon put down. 
On Sunday, May 10th, the real mutiny was begun 
at Meerut, not many miles from the famous city of 
Delhi. The native troops rose suddenly in arms, 
wounded or drove away their officers, and estab- 
lished a reign of terror, English ladies and chil- 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 



207 



dren were going to evening cliurcli when the tu- 
mult began, but almost all were massacred, wdiile 




City of Delhi. 

the officers' residences and government offices were 
burned to the ground. The English troops sta- 
tioned there were so distant from the native troops, 
and so utterly unprepared for such a scene, that 
they could not come to the rescue in time, and the 
native regiments, after the season of fire and 
slaughter, marched off to Delhi. This city at that 
time contained not a single British regiment, and 
all the Europeans in the place were a mere hand- 
ful. Not one single European was in a position 



14 



208 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

to give a connected account of that terrible day 
at Delhi. The families of the English officers and 
civilians were hunted about like wild beasts. 
Some took refuge in the jungle, some fled into the 
open plain, and some wandered they knew not 
whither, but all were followed up and cruelly 
murdered, and some were burned in their own 
buno^alows. The sufferin2:s were far more terrible 
than those at Meerut. 

7. At the time of the breaking out of the mu- 
tiny British troops were comparatively few, were 
scattered all over the country, and were compara- 
tively tens among thousands. In the first half of 
May more than thirty native regiments suddenly 
turned their arms against their former masters, and 
by September twenty more had followed their 
example. Almost every one of these acts of mu- 
tiny were attended with misery and danger to 
English civilians, ladies and children, and the tales 
of suffering were often of the most touching and 
harrowing kind. 

8. Of all the sad events which took place at 
this time, the most terrible was the slaughter of 
British soldiers, civilians, delicate women, and little 
children, at Cawnpore, by the miscreant Nana Sa- 
hib. Cawnpore, which is a large town on the river 
Ganges, six hundred and fifty miles from Calcutta, 
was under the command of Sir Hugh Wheeler, who 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 209 

had very few English among his troops, and little 
hopes that re-enforcements could reach him from 
other quarters, while in the city were four native 
regiments. He caused a square plot of ground to 
be laid out on the grand military parade, and into 
this inclosure he caused to be conveyed a large 
amount of treasure, and enough provisions for 
thirty days' consumption for one thousand per- 
sons. There was near Cawnpore one Nana Sahib, 
a Mahratta prince, who conceived that the East 
India Company had wronged him, and, resolved 
upon revenge, he took the lead of the mutineers, 
and his leadership was all the more terrible be- 
cause he simulated friendship to the English. On 
June 5th the open mutiny began, and Wheeler di- 
rected all whom he could trust to come into the 
intrenchment. Nana Sahib openly took command 
of the insurgents, brought re-enforcements with 
him, and commenced a siege of the Europeans. 
There were upward of nine hundred people with- 
in the intrenchment, about one third of whom 
were women and children, and about two hundred 
were English soldiers. There they remained for 
three weeks, withstanding a siege from the muti- 
nied regiments, and enduring sufferings that can 
with difficulty be realized. The oxen were driven 
away because there was no water for them, the 
meat rations fell off, the native servants ran away ; 



210 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

hogsheads of mm and beer were burst in by the 
enemy's cannon-balls, and then thirst followed in 
the train of fatigue, sickness, and wounds. 

9. These three weeks were a terrible time, but 
the worst was yet to comeo Nana Sahib sent a 
messenger to say that all the English might retire 
to Allahabad, in boats down the Ganges, if they 
would give up the intrenchment, treasure, guns, 
and ammunition ; and, hopeless and worn down, 
they agreed to the proposal. On June 27th the 
remnant of the nine hundred started to embark in 
about twenty boats, when the Nana's villainous 
plan showed itself. Guns were brought down to 
the river-banks, rebel soldiers rushed into the 
^vater and killed most of the men, while the women 
and children, exceeding two hundred in number, 
were conveyed on shore, w^here, after sufferings 
and cruel privations for eighteen days, they were 
put to death. 

10. Seldom has a government been placed in 
such a position as the India authorities found them- 
selves. Measures were at once begun for the sup- 
pression of the mutiny, but the military move- 
ments which followed the foregoing events were so 
numerous and complicated that only a brief notice 
of some of the more important can be given. Gen- 
eral Neill advanced from Madras, and marched rap- 
idly to Benares, where a plot had been formed by 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 



211 



the sepoys to repeat the drama of Meeriit and Delhi. 
He had only two hundred and forty men and three 




Benares. 



guns with him, but he defeated the rebels and 
saved Benares. When this was known at Allaha- 



212 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

bad, the native soldeirs there suddenly mutinied, 
and all the Europeans in the city were put to 
death, excepting a few who were fortunate enough 
to seek refuo;e in the fort. No soonor did Neill 
hear of this, than he started with only forty -four 
men, marched seventy -five miles in two days, and 
succeeded in entering the fort at Allahabad, where, 
by incessant activity, he kept in awe the thousands 
of insurgents who surrounded him. 

11. General Havelock came from the Persian 
Gulf to Calcutta, from which he at once started 
with the few troops that could be hastily got to- 
gether, joining Neill at Allabahad, from which 
place he shortly afterward set off with less than 
two thousand men, and marched to Cawnpore, a 
distance of two hundred and fifty miles, through a 
country infested by rebels in enormous numbers, 
whom he defeated every time he could get them 
to risk a fio^ht ; but he was so much delaved in his 
march that Nana Sahib's fiendish work was done 
before he arrived — the hapless women and chil- 
dren having been put to death just two days be- 
fore Havelock entered Cawnpore. 

12. At Lucknow there was six months' display 
of heroism, military skill, and untiring patience- 
The British troops were a few hundreds in num- 
ber, while the native were many thousands. Just 
outside the city was a building which became very 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 



213 



famous — tlie Residency, It was a large inclosure, 
walled, and contaiuincr the cliief commissioner's 



r= 




'''S-^/t/^'^^^-^/.-^ 






The Residency. 



house and other public buildings. On July 1st 
Sir Henry Lawrence, who was in command, aban- 
doned all the outposts, blew up a vast magazine, 
to prevent it from falling into the enemy's hands, 
and shut himself up with all the Europeans in the 
Residency, there to make a stout resistance till aid 
might come. On the next day he was killed by a 
shot from the enemy, and was succeeded by Sir 



214 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

Joliu Inglis. Their situatiou was critical in the 
extreme. No one could leave without danger of 
instant death, no friends could succor them, no 
food, drink, medicines, clothing, or ammunition 
could be brought in ; and within the inclosure 
were cooped up about twelve hundred people. 
The rebels kept up a continuous pouring in of 
shot and shell, and not for a single hour could the 
garrison relax their watchfulness. The sufferings 
were very great, and of a multifarious kind. In- 
glis tried every means of sending messengers to 
Cawnpore, with entreaties for aid, but very few 
escaped the alertness of the enemy. 

13. In the mean time General Havelock was 
getting ready to succor them. He marched from 
Cawnpore on July 25th with fifteen hundred men, 
and engaged and defeated the rebels almost every 
day for about three weeks, when, in consequence 
of the loss of men, which he saw would, before he 
reached Lucknow, reduce his small force to too 
small a number to relieve the gallant band at the 
Residency, he recrossed the Ganges to Cawnpore 
to wait until re-enforcements reached him. Hear- 
ing that Nana Sahib had collected a large number 
of rebels to attack him, he and Neill marched out 
and thoroughly defeated them at Bithoor. On 
September 15th he was re-enforced by some troops 
under General Sir James Outram, and crossed again 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 215 

into Oude. He beat back tlie enemy day after day, 
and on the 25tli he marched into Lucknow, and 
after hours' struggle, where every inch of ground 
had to be fought for, the British reached the Resi- 
dency, within which there was ahnost a frenzy of 
joy. A story is tokl that one Jessie Brown cheered 
the little baud, in the depth of their despair, by de- 
claring that she heard the slogan or war-cry of the 
approaching Highlanders long before the besieged 
had any idea that help was so near them. 

14. The British soon found that they were still 
in a very perilous position. They could not take 
the women and children to a place of safety, and 
constant watchfulness was required to maintain 
their own position. For two months longer they 
were hemmed in, when they were relieved by Sir 
Colin Campbell. 

15. The great point for the British was now 
the recapture of the city of Delhi, which was oc- 
cupied by twenty thousand rebel troops, and a 
force of eight thousand men commenced a siege of 
the city on June 8th. For more than three months 
the siege progressed, the British gradually getting 
re-enforced, until, in September, they were ten 
thousand men, and on the 14th of that month the 
city was stormed and captured after a desperate 
struggle. 

16. The subsequent troubles and fightings in 



216 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

India lasted until November, 1858, wlien Britisli 
power was finally re-established ; but it was done 
gradually, and at a lieavy sacrifice of life. The 
East India Company was abolished by act of Par- 
liament, and British India placed under the direct 
government of Queen Victoria. 

THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. 

17. Oh, that last day in Lucknow fort ! 

We knew it was the last, 
That the enemy's lines crept surely on. 
And the end was coming fast. 

18. To yield to that foe meant worse than death. 

And the men and we all worked on ; 
It was one moi'e day of smoke and roar, 
And then it would all be done. 

19. There was one of us, a corporal's wife, 

A fair, young, gentle thing, 
Wasted with fever in the siege, 
And her mind was wandering. 

20. She lay on the ground, in her Scottish plaid, 

And I took her head on my knee ; 
" When my father comes hame fi^ae the 
pleugh," she said, 
" Oh ! then please w^auken me." 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 217 

21. She slept like a cliild on lier father's flock, 

In the flecking of woodbine-shade, 
When the house-dog sp^a^vls by the open 
door, 
And the mother's wheel is stayed. 

22. It was smoke and roar and powder-stench, 

And hopeless waiting for death ; 
And the soldier's wife, like a full- tired child, 
Seemed scarce to draw her breath. 

23. I sank to sleep ; and I had my dream 

Of an English village lane, 
And wall and garden — but one wild scream 
Brought me back to the roar again ! 

24. There Jessie Brown stood listening, 

Till a sudden srladness broke 
All over her face ; and she caught my hand 
And drew me near, as she spoke : 

25. "The Hielanders ! Oh ! dinna ye hear 

The slogan far awa' ? 
The McGregors. Oh ! I ken it weel ; 
It's the grandest o' them a' ! 

26. " God bless the bonnie Hielanders ! 

We're saved — we're saved ! " she cried. 
And fell on her knees ; and thanks to God 
Flowed forth like a full flood-tide. 




^ 



MTSCELLANEOU.'^ STORIES. 219 

27. Along the battery -line her cry 

Had fallen among the men^ 
And they started back — they were there to 
die ; 
And was life so near them, then ? 

28. They listened for life ; the rattling fire 

Far off, and the far-oif roar, 
Were all ; and the colonel shook his head, 
And they turned to their guns once more. 

29. But Jessie said : " The slogan's done. 

But winna ye hear it noo ? 
The Omnpbells are cmnin^ ! It's no a dream ; 
Our succors hae broken through ! " 

30. We heard the roar and the rattle afar, 

But the pipes we could not hear ; 
So the men plied their work of hojjeless war, 
And knew that the end was near. 

31. It was not long ere it made its way, 

A thrilling, ceaseless sound ; 
It was no noise from the strife afar. 
Or the sappers underground. 

32. It was the pipes of the Highlanders, 

And now they played Atdd Lang Syne ; 
It came to our men like the voice of God, 
And they shouted along the line ! 



220 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

38. And they wept, and shook one another's 
hands, 
And the women sobbed in a crowd ; 
And every one knelt down where he stood, 
And we all thanked God aloud. 

34. That happy thne, when we welcomed them, 

Our men put Jessie first ; 
And the general gave her his hand, and 
cheers 
Like a storm from the soldiers burst. 

35. And the pipers' ribbons and tartans streamed. 

Marching round and round our line ; 
And our joyful cheers were broken with tears, 
As the pipes played Auld Lang Syne, 

Robert Lowell, 



XXV. 

THE RESCUE PARTY. 

1. Dr. Edward Kat^e, an American naval 
surgeon, in 1853, volunteered to command an ex- 
pedition in search of the lost vessels of Sir John 
Franklin, which some supposed to be shut up by 
the ice in a basin of clearer, warmer water, such 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 



221 



as it was tlioiiglit iiiiglit exist round tlie nortli 
pole, aud the way to which might be opened or 
closed accoi'ding to 
the shifting of the 
icebergs. 

2. His vessel was 
the brig Advance, 
and his course was 
directed through 
Davis Strait ; and 
on the way past the 
Danish settlements, 
in Grreenland, they 
provided themselves 
with a partially edu- 
cated young Esqui- 
mau as a hunter, and with a team of dogs, which 
were to be used in drawing sledges over the ice in 
explorations. 

3. The whole expedition was one golden deed, 
but there is not space to describe it in all its de- 
tails ; we must confine ourselves to the most strik- 
ing episode in their adventures, hoping that it may 
send our readers to the book itself. The ship was 
brought to a standstill in Rafaelner Bay, on the 
west side of Smith Strait, between the seventy- 
ninth and eig-htieth desfrees of latitude. It was 
only the 10 th of September when the ice closed in 




Dr. Kane. 



222 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS 

SO as to render further progress of the ship impos- 
sible. On the 7th of November the sun was seen 
for the last time, and darkness set in for one hun- 
dred and forty-one days — sucli darkness, at times, 
as was misery even to the dogs, who used to con- 
tend with one another for the power of lying with- 
in sight of the crack of light under the cabin-door. 

4. Before the light failed, however, Dr. Kane 
had sent out parties to make caclies^ or stores of 
provisions at various intervals. These were to be 
used by the exploring companies whom he pro- 
posed to send out in sledges, while the ice was 
still unbroken, in hopes of thus discovering the 
way to the Polynia, or polar basin, in which he 
thought Franklin might be shut up. The same 
work was resumed with the first gleams of return- 
ing light in early spring ; and on the 18th of March 
a sledge was dispatched with eight men to arrange 
one of these depots for future use. 

5. Toward midnight on the 29th, Dr. Kane 
and those who had remained in the ship were 
sewing moccasins in their warm cabin by lamp- 
light, when steps were heard above, and down 
came three of the absent ones, staggering, swollen, 
haggard, and scarcely able to speak. Four of their 
companions were lying under their tent frozen and 
disabled, ^' somewhere among the hummocks, to 
the north and east ; it was drifting heavily." A 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 223 

brave Irishman, Thomas Hickey, had remained at 
the peril of his life to feed them, and these three 
had set out to try to obtain aid, but they were so 
utterly exhausted and bewildered, that they could 
hardly be restored sufficiently to explain them- 
selves. 

6 Instantly to set out to the rescue was, of 
course, Dr. Kane's first thought, and, as soon as 
the facts had been ascertained, a sledge, a small 
tent, and some pemmican, or pounded and spiced 
meat, were packed up ; Mr. Ohlsen, who was the 
least disabled of the sufferers, was put into a fur 
bag, with his legs rolled up in dog-skins and eider- 
down, and strapped upon the sledge, in the hope 
that he would serve as a guide, and nine men, with 
Dr. Kane, set forth across the ice, in cold seventy- 
eight degrees below the freezing-point. 

7. Mr. Ohlsen, who had not slept for fifty 
hours, dropped asleep as soon as the sledge began 
to move, and thus he continued for sixteen hours, 
during which the ten proceeded with some knowl- 
edge of their course, since huge icebergs of noted 
forms, stretching in " long beaded lines " across 
the bay served as a sort of guide-posts. But just 
when they had come beyond their knowledge, ex- 
cept that their missing comrades must be some- 
where within forty miles round, he awoke, evi- 
dently delirious and perfectly useless. Presently 

15 



224 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

they came to a long, level floe, or field of ice, and 
Dr. Kane, thinking it might hav^e been attractive 
to weary men unable to stagger over the wild 
hummocks and rugged surface of the other parts, 
he decided to search it thoroughly. He left the 
sledge, raised the tent, buried the pemmican, and 
took poor Ohlsen out of his bag, as he was just 
able to keep his legs, and the theiTQometer had 
sunk three degrees lower, so that to halt would 
have been certain death. The thirst was dread- 
ful, for there was no waiting to melt the snow, 
and in such a temperature, if it be not thawed be- 
fore touching the mouth, it burns like caustic, and 
leaves the lips and tongue bleeding. 

8. The men were ordered to spread themselves, 
so as to search completely ; but though they read- 
ily obeyed, they could not help continually closing 
up together — either. Dr. Kane thought, from get- 
ting bewildered by the forms of the ice, or from 
the invincible awe and dread of solitude, acting 
on their shattered nerves in that vast field of in- 
tense, lonely whiteness, and in the atmosphere of 
deadly cold. The two strongest were seized with 
shortness of breath and trembling-fits, and Dr. 
Kane himself fainted twice on the snow. Thus 
they had spent two hours, having been nearly 
eighteen without water or food, when Hans, their 
Esquimau hunter, thought he saw a sledge-track 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES. 225 

in tlie snow, and thougli there was still a doubt 
whether it were not a mere rift made by the wind, 
they followed it for another hour, till at length 
they beheld the stars and stripes of the American 
flag fluttering on a hummock of snow, and close 
behind it was the tent of the lost. 

9. Dr. Kane was among the last to come up ; 
his men were all standing in file beside the tent, 
waiting in a sort of awe for him to be the first to 
enter it and see whether their messmates still lived. 
He crawled into the darkness, and heard a burst 
of welcome from four poor helpless figures lying 
stretched on their backs. " We expected you ! We 
were sure you would come ! " and then burst out 
a hearty cheer outside ; and for the first time Dr. 
Kane was well-nigh overcome by strong feeling. 

10. Here were fifteen souls in all to be brought 
back to the ship. The new-comers had traveled 
Avithout rest for twenty-one hours, and the tent 
would barely hold eight men, while outside, mo- 
tion was the only means of sustaining life. By 
turns, then, the rescue-party took two hours of 
sleep each, while those who remained awake paced 
the snow outside, and food having been taken, the 
homeward journey began, but not till all the sick 
had been undressed, rubbed, and newly packed in 
double buifalo-skins, in which — having had each 
limb swathed in reindeer-skins, they were laid on 



226 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

their own sledge, and sewed up in one huge bale, 
with an opening over each mouth for breathing. 
This took four hours, and gave almost all the 
rescuers frost-bitten fingers ; and then, all hands 
standing round, a prayer was said, and the ten set 
out to drag the four in their sledge over ice and 
snow, now^ in ridges, now in hummocks, up and 
down, hard and wild beyond conception. Ohlsen 
was sufficiently restored to walk, and all went 
cheerfully for about six hours, when every one be- 
came sensible of a sudden failure of his powers. 

11. ''Bonsall and Horton, two of our stoutest 
men, came to me, begging permission to sleep ; 
they were not cold, the wind did not enter them 
now ; a little sleep was all that they wanted." 
Presently Hans was found nearly stiff under a 
drift, and Thomas, bolt upright, had his eyes 
closed, and could hardly articulate. At last John 
Blake threw himself on the snow, and refused to 
rise. " They did not complain of feeling cold ; 
but it was in vain that I wrestled, boxed, ran, 
argued, jeered, or reprimanded, an immediate halt 
could not be avoided." So the tent was pitched 
again with much difficulty, for their hands w^ere 
too powerless to strike a light, and even the whis- 
ky, which had been put under all the coverings 
of the sledge, at the men's feet, was frozen. Into 
the tent all the sick and failing were put, and 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 227 

James McGary was left in charge of them, with 
orders to come on after a halt of four hours, while 
Dr. Kane and William Godfrey pushed on ahead, 
meaning to reach the tent that had been left half- 
way, and thaw some food by the time the rest 
came up. 

12. Happily, they were on a level tract of 
ice, for they could hardly have contended with 
difficulties in the nine miles they had still to go 
to this tent. They were neither of them in their 
right senses, but had resolution enough to keep 
moving, and imposing on one another a continued 
utterance of words ; but they lost all count of 
time, and could only remember having seen a 
bear walking leisurely along, and tearing up a 
fur garment that had been dropped the day before. 
The beast rolled it into a ball, but took no 
notice of them, and they proceeded steadily, so 
'^ drunken with cold " that they hardly had power 
to care for the sight of their half-way tent un- 
dergoing the same fate. However, their approach 
frightened away the bear, after it had done no 
worse than overthrowing: the tent. The exhausted 
pair raised it with much difficulty, crawled in, and 
slept for three hours. When they awoke. Dr. 
Kane's beard was frozen so fast to the buffalo- 
skin over him, that Godfrey had to cut him out 
with his jackknife ; but they had recovered their 



228 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

faculties, and had time to make a fire, thaw some 
ice, and make some soup with the pemmican, be- 
fore the rest of the party arrived. 

13. After having given them this refreshment, 
the last stage of the journey began, and the most 
severe ; for the ice was wild and rough, and ex- 
haustion was leading to the most grievous of 
losses — that of self-control. In their thirst, some 
could no longer abstain from eating snow : their 
mouths swelled, and they became sjDeechless ; and 
all were overpowered by the deadly sleep of cold, 
dropping torpid upon the snow. But Dr. Kane 
found that, when roused by force at the end of 
three minutes, these snatches of sleep did them 
good, and each in turn was allowed to sit on the 
runners of the sledge, watched, and awakened. 
The day was without mnd and sunshiny, other- 
wise they must have perished ; for the whole be- 
came so nearly delirious, that they retained no 
recollection of their proceedings ; they only traced 
their course afterward by their foot-marks. But 
when perception and memory w ere lost, obedience 
and self-devotion lived on; still these hungry, 
frost-bitten, senseless men, tugged at the sledge 
that bore their comrades, still held together and 
obeyed their leader, who afterward continued the 
soundest of the party. One was sent staggering 
forward, and was proved by the marks in the snow 



230 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

to have repeatedly fallen ; but lie readied tlie brig 
safely, and was capable of repeating with perfect 
accuracy tlie messages Dr. Kane had charged him 
with for the surgeon. 

14. A dog-team, with a sledge and some re- 
storatives, was at once sent out to meet the others, 
with the surgeon. Dr. Hayes, who was shocked at 
the condition in which he encountered them — four 
lying, sewed up in furs, on the sledge, which the 
other ten were drawing. These ten, three days 
since hardy, vigorous men, were covered with 
frost, feeble, and bent. They gave not a glance 
of recognition, but only a mere vacant, wild stare, 
and still staggered on, every one of them deliri 
ous. It was one o'clock in the afternoon of the 
third day that they arrived, after sixty-six hours 
exposure, during which they had been almost 
constantly on foot. Most of those who still kept 
their footing stumbled straight on, as if they saw 
and heard nothing, till they came to the ship's 
side, when, on Dr. Kane's word to halt, they 
dropped the lines, mounted the ship's side, and 
each made straight for his own bed, when he 
rolled in Just as he was, in all his icy furs, and 
fell into a heavy sleep. 

15. There were only the seven who had been 
left with the ship (five of them being invalids) to 
carry up the four helpless ones, and attend to all 



MISCELLANEOUS STORIES 231 

tlie rest. Dr. Kane, indeed^ retained bis faculties, 
assisted in carrying ttiem in, and saw them attend- 
ed to, after wliich lie lay down in his cot ; but 
after an hour or two he shouted, '' Halloo, on deck 
there ! " and when Dr. Hayes came to him, he 
gave orders "' to call all hands to lay aft, and take 
two reefs in the stove-pipe." In like manner, each 
of the party, as he awoke, began to rave, and for 
two days the ship was an absolute mad-house, the 
greater part of its inmates frantic in their several 
cots. Dr. Kane was the first to recover — Ohlsen 
the last, his mind constantly running upon the 
search for his comrades in the tent, which he 
thought himself the only person able to discover. 
Of those whom the party had gone to assist, good 
" Irish Tom " soon recovered ; but two died in the 
course of a few days, and the rest suffered very 
severely. 

16. The rest of Dr. Kane's adventures can not 
here be told ; suffice it to say that his ship re- 
mained immovable, and, after a second winter of 
terrible suffering from the diseases induced by the 
want of fresh meat and vegetables — the place of 
which was ill-supplied by rats, puppies, and scurvy- 
grass — it was decided to take to the boats ; and^ 
between these and sledges, the ship's company of 
the Advance at last found their way to Greenland, 
after so long a seclusion from all European news 



232 STORIES OF OTHER LANDS. 

that, when first they heard of the Crimean War, 
they thought an alliance between England and 
France a mere hallucination of their ignorant in- 
formant. Dr. Kane — always an unhealthy man — 
died soon after his return ; but he survived long 
enough to put on record one of the most striking 
and beautiful histories of patience and unselfish- 
ness that form part of the best treasury this world 
has to show. 



THE END. 



JOHONNOT'S WORKS 



The Sentence and Word Book. 

A GUIDE TO WRITING, SPELLING, AND COMPOSITION BY 
THE WORD AND SENTENCE METHODS. By James Johonnot. 

12mo. 184 pages. 

In teaching reading, those who practice the word and sentence methods have 
met with a serious difficulty. Thev can not find, m sufficient number, simple 
lessons with words expressing the' ideas of home and of youthful experience. 
The ordinary reading-lessons do not contain these words, and the teacher lias 
not time to search them out and arrange them in proper sentences. Johonnot s 
"Sentence and Word Book" has been prepared with special reference to the dif- 
ficulty here encountered. It selects and arranges words. It deals with familiar 
topics. It groups words that express ides^s upon the same topic. It uses new 
words in such combinations that their meanings are understood. It is designed 
to help the teacher in all elementary lauguage-instructioD, and especially in 
spelling-lessons. 

A Geographical Reader, 

A COLLECTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND 
EXPLANATIONS FROM THE BEST WRITERS IN ENGLISH 
LITERATURE. Classified and arranged to meet the wants of Geo- 
graphical Students, and the higher grades of reading classes. By 
James Johonnot. 
It is original and unique in conception and execution. 
It is varied in style, and treats of everrj variet)/ of geographical topic. 
It supplements the geographical text-books, and, by giving additional interest 
to the study, it leads tlie pupil to more extensive geographical reading and 
research. 

It is not simply a collection of dry statistics and outline descriptions, but mvid 
narrations of great literary merit, that convey nseful information and promote 
general culture. 

It conforms to the philosophic ideas upon which the new education is based. 

Its selections are from the best standard anthorities. 

It Is embellished with thirty-one beautiful and instructive illustrations. 

Principles and Practice of Teaching. 

By James Johonnot. 

Contents: I. What is Education ; II. The Mental Powers : their Order of De- 
velopment, and the Methods most conducive to Normal Growth ; III. Objective 
Teaching: its Methods, Aims, and Principles: IV. Subjective Teaching: its 
Aims and Place in the Course of Instruction; V. Object-Lessons : their \alue 
and Limitations ; VI. Relative Value of the Difi"erent Studies in a Course of II- 
strnction ; VIT. Pestalozzi, and his Contributions to Educational Science; VIII. 
Froebel and the Kindergarten; IX. Agassiz; and Science in its Relation to 
Teaching; X. Contrasted Systems of Education; XI. Physical Culture; XII. 
Esthetic Culture ; XIII. Moral Culture ; XIV. A Course of Study ; XV. Country 
Schools. 

D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 
Boston, Chicago, NEW YORK, Atlanta, San Francisco 



APPLETONS' SCHOOL READERS, 

BY 

WM. T. HARRIS, L'... D., Sup't of Schools, St. Louis, Mo. 
A. J. RICKOFF, A. M., Sup't of Instruction, Cleveland, Ohio. 
MARK BAILEY, A.M., Inst?'Uctor i7i Elocution, Yale College. 

CONSISTING OF FIVE BOOKS, SUPERBLY ILLUSTRATED, 



Appletons' First Reader. Child's Quarto. 90 pages. 

In the First Reader the combined word and phonic methods are ad 
mirably developed and carefully graded. In the first 52 pages (Part I), 
in connection with beautiful and child-life reading-lessons, are taught the 
names of all the letters, the short sounds of the vowels, and the sounds 
of the consonants and diphthongs. In Part II are found a systematic 
marking of silent letters and the more easily distinguished sounds of 
vowels, and a continued drill in the sounds of consonants. The aim is 
to make the pupil acquainted with the forms and powers of letters, and 
the sound, construction, and meaning of words. The pictorial illustra- 
tions have been made a feature not only of unusual attractiveness, but 
are instructive and interesting adjuncts to the text, as subjects for study 
and oral exercises. 

Appletons' Second Reader. 12mo. 143 pages. 

This continues the plan of the First, and gives a complete table of all 
the vowel and consonant sounds with their markings according to Webster 
— "A Key to Pronunciation." Preceding each reading-lesson the new 
words of that lesson are carefully marked for a spelling-exercise. This 
Reader gives prominence to the phonic analysis and the noting of silent 
letters, to the placing of diacritical marks, which must be learned by 
practice in marking words ; also, to the spelling of words and to sentence, 
making, using the words occurring in the reading-lessons. 

A.ppletons' Third Reader. 12mo. 214 pages. 

In this Reader the plan of the second is continued, with the addition 
of some important features, notably the lessons " How to read,'' placed 
at intervals through the book. They form the preliminary instruction in 
elocution which Professor Bailey has developed in this and the succeed 
ing volumes in a masterly and unique manner. 

The selection of "comparatively common words," yet such as are 
easily and usually misspelled, numberiug about five hundred, given at 
the close, is a feature of very great practical value, and answers beyond 
cavil the question sometimes asked, " Ought not a speller to accompany 
or precede the series ? " 

[see next page.] 



APPLET ON 8' SCHOOL READERS.— (Contmned.) 



Introductory Fourth Beader. I'imo. 

Desi"-ned for those pupils who have finished the Third Reader, and 
are yet too young or too immature to take up the Fourth. 

Appletons' Fourth Reader. 12mo. 248 pages. 

It is here that the student enters the domain of literature proper and 
makes the acquaintance of the standard writers of " Enghsh undetiled 
in their best style. Having received adequate preparation m the previous 
books, he is now able to appreciate as well as to assimilate the higher 
classics now before him. 

A new and invaluable feature in the editorship of this and the next 
volume is the "Preparatory Notes" appended to each selection, for the 
aid of both teacher and pupil. 

The elocutionary work commenced in the Third Reader is continued 
and gradually advanced to the higher phases of the subject. Spelling- 
exercises are also appended, introducing " Words difficult to spell," with 
both phonic and what are usually known as orthographic principles for- 
mulated into rules. Beautifully engraved full-page illustrations embeUisb 
the interior of the book, and render it artistically chaste and attractive. 

Appletons' Fifth Reader. 12mo. 4V1 pages. 

This Reader is the one to which the editors have given their choicest 
efforts. The elementary principles of the earlier volumes are not forgot- 
ten in this, but are subordinated to matters germane to more advanced 
teaching. The " Preparatory Notes " are more advanced than those of 
the preceding Reader, and seek to direct the mind more to style and the 
literary character, and lastly to the logical element of the thought. Liter- 
ary history and criticism are woven into the work in such way as to evoke 
thought and inquiry in the mind of the young. Extracts are given from 
Webster Jefferson, Irving, Audubon, Cooper, Emerson, Wirt, and Wash- 
ington, along with others from De Quincey, Goethe, Victor Hugo, Byron, 
Shelley, Milton, Coleridge, and Shakespeare ; and with these is a vast 
amount of valuable information of every kind. It is, indeed, a text-book 
of bclles-letfres, as well as of reading and spelling. Professor Bailey's 
lessons in elocution are fuller than in })receding volumes, and can probably 
not be equaled in the language for perspicuous brevity and completeness. 
All the departments of recitation — the earnest and plain, the noble, the 
joyous, the sad — sarcasm, scorn, humor, passion, poetry — are given clearly 
and practically. The collection of " Unusual and Difficult Words " at the 
close comprises fifty-four lists of words which should always be kept in 
mind by the student. 

D. APPLETON d CO., Publishers, 

NEW YORK, BOSTON, CHICAGO, ATLANTA, SAN FRANCISCO. 



KRtiSrS FREE-HAND, INVENTIVE, AND 
INDUSTRIAL DRAWING. 

Adapted to the Requirements of all Grades of Schools. By Hermann 
Krusi, a. M., Instructor in the Philosophy of Education at the 
Normal and Training tSchool, Oswego, N. Y. ; and formerly Teacher 
of Drawing in the Home and Colonial Training School, London. 

EASY DRAWING LESSONS, for Kindergarten and Primary 
Schools. Three Series, Twelve Cards each, with Instructions. 

GRADED COURSE. New revised edition. 

Part I. Synthetic Series. (Primary.) Four Drawing-Books 
and a Manual for Teachers. 

Part II. Analytic Series, (Intermediate.) Four Books and 

Manual. 
Part III. Perspective Series. (Grammar and High School.) 

Four Books and Manual. 

Kriisi's New System of Drawing is pre-eminently adapted to meet 
the wants of our public-school instruction in this branch. 

It is strictly progressive, and adapted to every grade, from the pri- 
mary classes to the higher departments of the high-school. 

It has for its basis a knowledge of the actual forms in Nature, lead- 
ing the mind to accurate observation, as well as training the hand to 
skillful and artistic representation. 

It acknowledges the fact that children have a great deal of ingenuity 
and power of combination, and like to wander in the regions of fancy. 
It therefore supplies an Inventive Course, restricted only by the laws of 
taste and order. 

It applies art to all the wants and requirements of industry. 

In short, it is the only system which has fully, philosophically, and 
practically, developed the subject for public instruction in our common 
schools. 

SUPPLEMENTARY SERIES. No. 1. Elementary Leaves and 
Flowers. No. 2. Animals in Outline. No. 3. Studies of the Human 
Form. No. 4. Exercises in Shading, Foliage, and Trees. No. 6. 
Landscapes. No. 6. Flowers. 

THE ORIGINAL-DRAWING BOOK. By Edward L. Chi- 
chester. 

Designed as a Supplementary Drawing-Book, and especially adapted 
to Kriisi's Synthetic Drawing Series. The author tells the story of 
" Tim's Journey," and the pupil illustrates it by drawing the objects 
described, in blank spaces left for the purpose. It is arranged for 
twenty-nine large illustrations. 



New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 



KRtJSrS INDUSTRIAL DRAWING, 



ELEMENTARY MECHANICAL DRAWING. By Frank 
B. Morse, Instructor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
Six Books. 
This course gives a knowledge of the uses of different drawing instru- 
ments, with practical exercises, line and brush shading, and the conven- 
tional methods of representing different materials used in construction, 
as earth, stone, wood, and metals. It then presents and explains all the 
useful problems in geometrical drawing, with their practical applications. 

ELEMENTARY ARCHITECTURE. By Charles Babcock, 
Professor of Architecture, Cornell University. Nine Books. 
The series includes the course pursued by the students in the archi- 
tectural department of the University, and contains the practice necessary 
for every student in architecture. It is eminently practical, and the work 
furnishes that training of the muscles and knowledge of the use of instru- 
ments which practical life demands. 

OUTLINE AND RELIEF DESIGNS, representing Architectural 
and Sculptural Ornaments, and their Historical Development. By 
E. C. Cleaves, Professor of Di-awing and Designing, Cornell Uni- 
versity, Six Books. 
This series is a companion to that upon the Elements of Architecture, 
and, while serving its purpose of furnishing valuable drawing-lessons, and 
instruction in the decorative art, it will also be found of great value as 
illustrating the successive steps in aesthetic attainment, and the effect of 
natural environment in determining the taste of a people. 

TEXTILE DESIGNS, for Calico and other Print Goods, Carpets, 
Wall-Paper, Silks, Laces, Cashmeres, and the like. By Charles 
Kastner, Lowell Professor of Design, Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology. Six Books. 
The series upon Textile Designs is intended to show the application of 
the general principles of drawing to designing ; to give practical instruc- 
tion in the technical preparation of designs for the various fabrics ; and 
to cultivate the taste, so that a higher art may result. 



KRUSI'S DRAWING TABLETS, for Elementary Exercises in 
Drawing. Prepared especially to accompany the Easy Drawing Les- 
sons and the Synthetic Course. Oblong 16mo. 36 sheets, ruled on 
one side in quarter-inch spaces. 

PRIMARY DRAWING CARDS. For Slate and Blackboard 
Exercises, In two Parts of twelve Cards and thirty-six Exercises 
each. Accompanied by instructions for drawing, and a test ruler. 
By M. J. Green. 



New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 8, & 5 Bond Street. 



APPLETONS' 

NEW ARITHMETICS 

TWO VOLUMES. 

Magnificently Illustrated. 

Philosophically Treated. 



THE SERIES: 

L NUMBERS ILLUSTRATED 

And applied in Language, Drawing, and Beading 
Lessons. An Arithmetic for Primary Schools. 
By ANDREW J. RICKOFF and E. C. DAVIS. 

II. NUMBERS APPLIED. 

A Complete Arithmetic for all Grades. Prepared 
on the Lnductive Method, with many new and 
especially practical features. 

By ANDREW J. RICKOFF, 

|^W° These books are the result of extended research as to the best 
methods no\v in use, and many years' practical experience in class-room 
work and school supervision. 

The appearance of this series has been awaited with great interest 
by leading educators, as it is intended to give all that has proved most 
successful in arithmetical work, while it presents some new methods of 
illustration, pictorially and otherwise, that will make the introduction to 
the study especially interesting and instructive. 



Send for full particulars at once. A glance, even, through 
these books will he instructive to any teacher. 



D. Appleton & Co., Publishers, 

NEW YORK, BOSTON, CHICAGO, ATLANTA, SAN FRANCISCO. 



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